We Used to Be Friends?
by LilMisMusical
Summary: AU of Season 2. So spoilers through the end of it. Veronica didn't start dating Duncan again and now Logan needs help? Just when she thought she was out...
1. I've Got a Secret

**A/N: Alright, so I just got the second season on DVD, and I felt inspired, this is my first VM fanfic, and only my second fic over all, so I would love some feedback, good or bad. The second chapter will be up probably tomorrow. This story takes place over season two, a semi-alternate universe of it. It is also probably, ok definitely going to end up with some LoVe action, just because Logan is my fave character in the show and I 3 LoVe.**

**THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW: Veronica did break up with Logan, for the same reason she did in the show, but she didn't start dating Duncan. Duncan is still with Meg, and Veronica is only the lonely. Obviously with no Duncan and Veronica relationship, she and Meg are still friends Also, this story is written in an episode format, each chapter is going to contain the small mysteries and key events in its corresponding episode (first chapter, first episode and so on) but things may be altered a bit so that it goes with my shift in what happens, especially with Veronica, and Logan of course.**

**Oh and I don't' have a beta yet, and I can edit up a storm for others, but I always think I typed what I meant to type when I edit for myself so I'm sorry about any errors, and I would love it if someone wouldn't mind stepping in for beta?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from the show. They belong to the ever so lucky Rob Thomas.**

**Now that I wrote that MASSIVE announcement because a lot needed explaining….**

_**Chapter One: I've Got a Secret**_

"So I hear you're back on the cheerleading squad_"_ Veronica stated with a smirk as she tapped Meg, who was waiting to step on the yellow bus next to them.

"Yeah!" Meg said, her mouth quickly twisting into a pensive frown, "About that…"

"What no thank you?"

"It's just, it turns out that, well I can't be on the cheerleading squad this year anyway."

"You'll have to explain…"

"I will later. When there aren't so many witnesses." She winked, looking around at the mass of people arriving for school. "I just, well, I have a secret."

"Please don't say it's a good one."

"No, well, it's not horrible, but definitely not such _good _one"

"Well, then. I ju…" Veronica said, her curiosity starting to get the better of her.

"Veronica!" A male voice interrupted her, which is promptly ignored.

"…st want…"

"Ver-on-i-ca!"

"..to make su…" she said, finally giving up as a hand grabbed her shoulder, and without looking she rolled her eyes at the guy. "What Logan?"

"I have a favor…" he said with a shrug.

"I don't have time Logan."

"Not right now, I just need…"

"Ok, call me after the field trip or something. Now leave us big kids alone, we need to talk." Veronica said, promptly turning away and catching up to Meg who was starting to step onto the bus.

The two girls both felt the sudden urge to vomit when the stench that reached their nostrils as they started down the aisle. Meg covered her nose and motioned to the back of the bus, Veronica following on her coat tails. Veronica sat in the seat in front of her, knowing all too well that the spot next to her was taken.

"Ok, so…" Veronica said waiting, looking around to the bus that only contained two others, who were just sitting down in the front of the bus.

"Well…" Meg paused, making a pained face as she tried to find the words, "I think I'm pregnant."

"You think? Did you take a test?"

"No, I'm just well, really late."

"That's it, you're coming over tonight and we are figuring this out once and for all." Veronica said, trying to picture Meg, perfect cardigan wearing Meg, eight months from that moment, a large belly protruding over her khakis. The thought made her laugh.

"What's so funny?" Duncan asked as he sat himself down in the empty space next to Meg, raising one eyebrow.

"Nothing…" Veronica giggled as she turned and faced forward. Although they were both one of her best friends, she wasn't so fond of seeing Duncan and Meg together. Their sickeningly sweet attitude toward each other made her sick to her stomach. There was something about watching your ex extremely happy with their hand in someone elses that makes your heart ache, no matter how good your friendship is after the break up. She shook the feeling off as the bus lurched to a start by trying to figure out why on Earth Logan could possibly want her help.

She knew better than to think that he was asking her about school, or to help him with an assignment. Maybe the PCHers were getting even, but then again, there were no black and blue marks to be seen, and if they had wanted to they probably could have broken his neck. So very unlikely. She thought of different, but highly improbable, scenarios as to why Logan could possibly need her help until they pulled up at Shark Stadium, home of the worlds worst pitchers.

The group sat around listening to Woody talk, Veronica still in her own little world, trying again to picture Meg in all her maternity ward bliss. Before she knew it the new girl, Gia was standing up talking about her wardrobe, breaking her out of her trance.

Veronica waited outside overlooking the field as everyone else chowed down; she somehow wasn't looking forward to fraternizing with her class mates, or watching Meg tease Duncan, as she clung to his arm. She just stood there, watching as the others walked about, talking, laughing and finally she watched Dick get off of his cell phone, wink at Gia and walk over to the happy couple, say something before Duncan enthusiastically agreed with him.

A few minutes later, the field trip game to a close but the only 09er seen going anywhere near the bus was Meg. "Veronica." She called, catching up to the petite blonde. "I'm going in the limo Dick called, you want to come with?"

"Hmm… disgusting bus, or a limo ride with Dick and his goonies….." Veronica said leaning toward the bus.

"Alright I get it. I'll see you at your house, 7?"

"Sounds good." Veronica smiled as she made her way back on the bus. Somehow it wasn't easy to occupy her mind on her way back. She started to take a nap, trying to just relax, but couldn't and she couldn't get off the bus faster than she did when they pulled into a gas station with a small convenience store.

She made her way to the back, running into the bathroom, avoiding everyone else for a few minutes of peace so that she could take out her cell phone and call Wallace, to complain. It went straight to voicemail, so in an attempt to get ahold of anyone for a decent conversation she tried Mac and even her dad, but got voicemail twice more. Desperate for something to do, she called the one person who really wasn't on the top of her list.

After all, Logan hadn't exactly taken their break up well. After being thrown out of their apartment, he made himself scarce until a few weeks before school started when she had fun into him at one of Duncan's parties. Things between them had been icy at best, until she accidentally dumped ice water on his pants, she helped him, and since then they seemed somewhat decent, especially since school started, despite that fact that he still seemed bitter.

He picked up after two rings, a rarity for him, and she could help but be a little surprised. It took a few seconds, three hellos and one "earth to Mars!" on his part before she finally realized she had to say hello.

"I was wondering what you wanted earlier, that was so important that you felt the need to interrupt me?" she said quickly, noting that she only had a minute left of her "five minute, and absolutely no longer or you'll get left behind," break

"Oh, so sue me, I interrupted the ever so important girl talk."

"What do you want Logan?"

"Oh look, what a concerned ex-girlfriend I have, looking out for me in my time of need."

"Yes, a regular guardian angel, now tell me what your time of need is exactly." Veronica started tapping her foot, noting the thirty seconds that had passed.

"Well, come out of that convenience store and maybe we'll talk."

"Logan?" She asked, too curious to not take his advice, as she abandoned the women's washroom. Then she saw him, leaning ever so casually against the monstrosity he called a car, his cell resting against his ear. "And I have a stalker now?"

"No, just someone who needs your help. Come on Veronica, you know I wouldn't try this hard for any other reason. This face, it needs not stalk."

"Hurry up I have 10 seconds until I have to be on… that bus." She slumped staring at the yellow school bus that started up and pulled out of the parking lot. "That decided to leave early, for once. Thanks Logan."

"Well, listen to me for a few minutes. Then I'll give you a lift."

"Me? Ride in big bird…"

"That or you walk back."

"Fine, what."

"For the last week, everynight, things keep disappearing, and last night they broke something, woke me up but by the time that I got out there they were gone. I just don't' want it to get any further than that."

"Let me guess, you want me to find out who it is. My guess is the PCHers, after what you did to that pool, I wouldn't really blame them. Either way fine, get me a list of things that have been taken, and I'll come scout things out soon."

"Alright, hop in." Logan smirked and pulled out dangerously fasted, something that Veronica was surprisingly used to after everything. She was busy looking out the window, when Logan slowed down considerably. "What do we have here…"

She snapped back to reality noticing the limo pulled next to Logan's car. They both stepped out of the car, but Veronica went particularly slow, a sense of dread filling the pit of her stomach.

The first thing that caught her attention after the broken pieces at the edge of the cliff was the bubbling around the tail end of a bright yellow school bus. A voice, Meg's, shouted her name, she looked over to see Meg being comforted by her boyfriend and then she looked back to the accident and her stomach fell and the tears let themselves loose.

She dropped to her knees, her mind closing down as she repeated "I should be there too" quietly to herself. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder, and then an arm about her, raising her to her feet.

"No you shouldn't." Logan whispered as she helped her to the car.


	2. My Drunken White Knight

**Hey guys, thank you so much for the awesome reviews (11! Eeek! I'm so excited!)! I was so surprised to find more than one in my mailbox the other morning, that's more than I've gotten for anything else I've ever written. I must say you guys officially rock.**

**So, I'm sorry if the last chapter was a little rushed and short, but it was hard to write, I actually wrote the beginning to this one first, because it's what I thought of to bring around this story. **

**FYI: I'm so busy that I pretty much barely see my house during the week. So, that is why there was a delay. Most chapters will get posted on weekends… sorry, that does mean a lot of times there will be a week between chapter postings. I will try my best to get two out each week, one during the weekend and one like the Monday or Tuesday afterward, I don't want you guys to get bored waiting!**

**Reviews are appreciated (sooooooooo much you have no idea how much they brighten my crazy stressful days!)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own V.M. I am simply not that lucky.**

**Thanks!**

**-V**

**_Chapter 2: My (Drunken) White Knight?_**

Veronica's arms started to quake under the weight of the tray. _Whoever said bussing tables was easy, they were dead wrong,_ she thought as she started to make her way across the crowded coffee house. Her arm was about to give in and she knew it, taking bigger steps to compensate, to no avail. Just as she thought she was going to drop the whole lot someone swooped next to her, taking the tray from her hand.

"So we meet again." A male voice chuckled as Veronica turned around. There stood Logan, holding the tray at his side, a smirk across his face.

"Logan, we both know you aren't the knight in shining armor type, so why pretend?" She said, a small smile playing on her lips. He may be her psychotic jackass ex-boyfriend, but he was still a decent person most of the time.

"Shucks, I was going for white knight, armor chafes, but…" Veronica raised an eyebrow, obviously no longer amused. "I'm actually here because I was wondering when you were actually going to get on the job I asked you about."

"Gee I don't know, I wasn't exactly thinking about that the last few days, bus crash and all… wait is that self-centered of me, you know mourning the deaths of our classmates that I should have been with. Needless to say it hasn't really been on my mind Logan. Also, I'm starting to wonder why I should help you when ever time I try I seem to get whiplash from a verbal assault." She said, taking the tray back and putting it to the side, unloading all the cups and saucers and stacking them on the counter.

"Look," he grabbed her arm so she had no choice but to look at him, "You know I enjoy self-centered people, I just, I'm starting to get freaked out, its happening every night, and if it is the PCHer's like you said I want to know what they are planning to do to me."

"So you can do it first?"

"So maybe you could come stake out at my place tomorrow night or something, catch 'em in the act."

"No can do buckaroo. I have plans."

"What plans?"

"Can't tell you." Veronica spat, she would find plans, she knew that. It was just a matter of time.

"Well then, later this week. Come on Ronnie, you know you can't resist my charm, stunning good looks, and amazing sense of humor."

"Wow, you know me so well. And what no begging for me to come the day after tomorrow, some sense of urgency."

"Well I did ask for tomorrow, and now I have to make plans."

"Well, you may be a leper, but I'm sure that you will be able to find someone pathetic enough to make out with you."

"I'll just go to the Casablanca's casa."

"Dick is your solution to not having a date? Way to get action buddy. Anyway, what if I could stop by the day after tomorrow?"

"Well, Dick and I are throwing a party. And I get plenty of action, thank you very much"

"Wait, what?"

"I. Get. Plenty. Of. SE"

"Disgusting, but I got it. I meant, a PARTY? After all this?"

"He says that Gia needs to see the party side of Dick and Neptune, instead of the depressed. Thinks she'll find him more attractive that way. And I figured we better celebrate what little life we have left."

"Fat chance for Dick, and what is wrong with you? Anyway, have fun. Oh, and I'll try to get over soon, but I'm warning you, this is going to cost you." Veronica said as she left to go wait on a table across the room.

"Gee thanks…" Logan shrugged as he watched her make her way to the table. _Now to take my mind off things._ He walked out of The Hut and into his X-Terra, speeding away toward the Casablanca's house.

The next day at school, Veronica felt like she was in a very familiar fishbowl. Reporters swarmed around the school like fighter jets ready to shoot, looking for an unsuspecting student to interview. Everyone wanted to know the deep inner workings of everyone involved in the bus crash. It made her sick.

She watched as one girl with dark hair who she had seen around talking to a reporter about how amazing someone was, how accepted he was by everyone. She rolled her eyes as she made it to her first period class.

By the time Veronica hit fourth period, all she could think about was sleeping. It was almost as if there was nothing to be learned in her classes and so after five more painstaking minutes of having a staring contest with the clock, she raised her hand and excused herself for the bathroom.

She opened the door to find a larger girl, who she had been hearing a lot about lately. Jessie, the daughter of the bus driver, stood against the sink, arms crossed in front of her, a grimace on her face.

"You're dad drives one bus off a cliff, and your days of anonymity are over."

"Did you want something?"

"Yeah, so I need proof that my dad didn't kill himself. My family is kind of accustomed to having a place to live and all that. If its suicide, insurance doesn't pay."

"I don't know where I would start."

"Well if I knew I wouldn't be asking you for help." Jessie said with distain, about to leave when a group of 09ers walked in.

"Jessie, you know, I wouldn't be at school if I were you." The obvious leader of the pack said, blocking the door way so she couldn't leave. With one foul swoop, Jessie's fist connected with the girl's nose. Veronica watched in shock, afraid of what else the girl would do.

"Alright, I help." She butted in before Jessie could punch anyone else, "Just, promise you'll chill." Veronica grabbed the girls arm and pulled her out of the bathroom. "Now, I think I'll need to find out a little bit more about him."

She spent the rest of the period finding out everything she could about Ed Doyle. She finally finished getting all she needed she promised that she would come over later that afternoon; she had a few errands to run first.

With that Veronica and made her way to her fifth period class, English. She slid into her seat right before the bell rang, noticing that Logan wasn't in his seat behind her making snide comments thought-out the class. _He'll probably just waltz in late, as usual. _ She thought, but as the period passed, it was obvious that he wasn't going to show up.

The rest of the day dragged on for Veronica, dreading what she would have to do after school, to help prove Jessie's theory. She didn't want to go to the site of the accident, or the convenience store where they stopped. All sorts of people had started showing up there, leaving things, lighting candles, praying and she imagined other things as well. But, she had to go if she ever planned on figuring it out, and she knew, she was one for justice, with a bit of revenge mixed in.

Because of that, she knew she had to find out what happened at the convenience store. If his last meal had been an energy drink, or coffee, that would mean he was tired. If his last meal was a bag of pork rinds, well it wouldn't help, but she had to find out either way.

She drove out by herself past the turn in the road before the last period ended, saying that she had to go and do research for her next article in journalism. As she drove past she felt sick. There was a man, in a Hawaiian print shirt trying to light a candle, a woman who was weeping openly as she looked out at the water, and a hand full of teenagers acting as if it were all a joke. She shook her head as she kept driving the 15 minutes to the convenience store.

The little bell rang as the door opened and she was relieved to find less people in the store than there were near the cliff. She started to walk toward something that caught her eye as her phone rang.

"Hello?" Someone said through her cell phone, "earth to Mars!" She recognized Wallace by that time, "Yo, Veronica."

"Hi."

"I was wondering, um, I have a friend, and well she needs our help with a little car issue."

"They're selling souvenirs…"

"What?"

"They are selling souvenirs, at the convenience store, like it's some kind of tourist attraction." She said, trying to not burst into tears she was so angry.

"Do you need me to…"

"No I'll be fine, go get the girl, sport." She said and hung up. She walked up to the counter, putting on her best fake smile as she said hi to the man who she had seen on at least two news casts talking about Ed Doyle. "You're the guy from the news right?"

"Yeah! Check you out."

"God, it must have been sooo freaky, being the last person to see the bus driver alive."

"Oh you're one of those types. Well, we've been getting a lot of Munsters in here, but I must say that you are the Marilyn hun, cuz you're… pretty."

"Thanks. Do you think it would be totally weird if I asked for the last meal the bus driver ate?"

"Yeah, but you are like the 100th person to ask for the Bus Crash special. I can't say that if I were going to go off the cliff with a bus full of kids, I would want the Monster Gulg and a bag of peanuts, but whatever he wanted. A buck ninety eight." She was about to walk away when she noticed the Saint Christopher pins. Above it was a sign "We don't make change. Don't ask."

"I can't come without buying one of these." She said, handing him a dollar, getting back 75 cents. She stared at the three coins and the cheap pin, wondering why he had bought it, when she looked up and noticed a pay phone in the back of the store. At that moment, she realized that she had a little bit more work to do, but it would have to wait til tomorrow. So she got in her car and did the one thing that she could accomplish, getting over to Jessie's

When she arrived, Jessie was standing in the door, her brother behind her looking terrified, as Lamb and two other deputies were going through the apartment. Veronica stomped in with authority, stopping to frown at the Sheriff.

"What? No innocents to arrest today?" She said, as she crossed her arms.

"Veronica Mars. What are you doing here?"

"Friend of Jessie's from school. What are _you _doing here? Not asking me to go to prom again, I hope. I already told you, the answer is no." She shrugged as Jessie stared in amazement.

"Sheriff, I think we found something." Someone in the other room shouted out. One of the deputies came out holding a freshly printed paper. It had a short paragraph on it, nothing more nothing less, and as Lamb read over it, he smirked in satisfaction.

"Well boys I think we're done here." He said as he made his way out of the apartment, making sure to bump Veronica on the way, "Oh, and here, you might want to read this. You know what, you can keep it, we will have copies." He said handing the page to Jessie as he and his lackies made their way out, their copy in hand.

Jessie stood in the doorway a moment, reading a note from her father's computer. It was a suicide note, or at least it seemed that way.

_I'm sorry to leave you this way. But I truly believe in my heart that this is for the best. I can't go on like this. I can't stage it for the kids, even though they mean more to me than anything. I think it's for the best._

Jessie looked devastated, defeated but her mothers reaction was concerning, and it just made Veronica more determined to find out if there was more to the story.

­

The next day, Veronica only made it to lunch when she realized that she had better things to do and just decided to leave. Fifteen minutes later, Veronica was walking into the Sheriff's department, news paper in hand as she made her way to one of her favorite deputies.

"Either, I'm getting stealthier or your hearing is not what it used to be." She said with a smirk, slapping the newspaper down on the counter.

"What do you want Veronica."

"An application." She said, but was met by silence, "What? It says right here that you are looking for a part time receptionist."

"Why are you here."

"I'm great with people, have excellent time management skills and a very soothing phone voice."

"You can't be serious." He said, as he got the application from under the counter.

"Is there somewhere quiet where I can fill this out?" She asked, and he showed her to an interrogation room. The moment the door closed she picked up the phone calling in to get phone records because that was the only place she could think of where they would give it to her. She listened to the list of numbers on the end of the line, jotting a few down when her cell phone started to ring. "This better be life or death Logan… Wait, hold on." She paused for another second jotting down the name she had been waiting for before slamming down the interrogation room phone.

"What the.."

"Logan I'm busy what do you want?" She asked, quickly scribbling answers into the application.

"I was wondering if you were coming to the Life's Short party. It's at Duncan's." At that moment Lamb walked through the door with a crash.

"Veronica Mars. Why do I have to keep asking you what are you doing in my presence?" He asked, slamming the door closed.

"Um, no." she said into her cell phone, "I gotta go. Bye!"

"Again, what are you doing?"

"Well I was on the phone, but now about this last question. Would it be wrong of me to say that I just want to be closer to you?" With that Lamb came up behind her pulling her out the door of the interrogation room, making sure she left the premises.

Veronica spent the rest of the afternoon wondering what the call could have been about. Her father was out looking for a bail jumper for the night, and so she made herself a late dinner after watching every news channel hoping to hear something else that would help make it click.

She had a name, and that was all, but she figured she could find out a bit more. After 10 minutes of searching the database, she had a theory, but it didn't really match up, so she got in the Le Baron and made her way over to Jessie's apartment.

"Did your father ever mention the Cotters?" She asked as Jessie opened the door.

"Hello?"

"Hi, but did your father ever mention the Cotters? They live in your apartment building. He didn't ever hang out with them or anything?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Well, I'll stop by there later. Until then, hang in there ok?"

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"I'll talk to you later." Veronica made her way downstairs to apartment 108. She stood outside debating what to say for a minute before bringing herself to knock. "Jeff Cotter?" She asked when a man in his mid 40's opened the door.

"Yeah."

"My name is Dawn. Dawn Lamb, assistant to the district attorney. Did you know Ed Doyle?"

"He was that bus driver. I've heard of him on the news. Why?"

"Ed Doyle placed a phone call from a pay phone about 15 minutes before the bus crashed to your number."

"I was out of town on business that day. My wife might have been here though. Come in, I'll go get her."

Veronica stood just inside the doorway as the man disappeared inside the apartment. He came back explaining how someone was saying the bus driver had called their apartment.

"What?" the woman said after a moment of hesitation.

"Ed Doyle. He called here. Were you home between 4 and five in the afternoon the day of the bus crash?" Veronica said taking another step inside.

"Yes, but I didn't get a phone call. Well there was a wrong number, but I don't know how that could help." The woman said with a shrug. Veronica wasn't sure if she wanted to believe it so as she turned around to walk out the door a minute later, she made sure to drop a small listening device in the corner.

After a quick run for a soda, pop corn and other supplies, she settled into the car, with headphones in listening to the boring conversations that were taking place in the apartment. She didn't know what she expected to hear, but she figured she could at least try. She sat there for two and a half, learning very little except that the couple didn't' talk to each other much and one of them was very into Survivor.

She was just deciding to stay for another half an hour and go home at midnight, when her cell phone started to ring.

"Hello?" She answered, less than happy to see that it was Logan who was calling.

"Roooooooonica." A slurred voice came through the phone.

"What?"

"Get me." Was all he said before hanging up. Veronica rolled her eyes but then decided to call Meg just in case.

"Hey Meg. Are you at Duncan's?" She asked, noticing the noise in the background.

"Yeah, why?" Meg said, with a laugh, Duncan had probably had enough alcohol by now to start doing his impressions.

"What's the deal with Logan? He just called me."

"I don't know really, he was acting weird I guess and Duncan threw him out."

"Oh. Alright, well have fun, and I'll call you tomorrow about everything ok?"

"Thanks Veronica, for everything."

"Talk to you tomorrow." She hung up. She debated just leaving Logan there, sitting on the curb until he sobered up tomorrow, but then realized that leaving him could be dangerous to society. So, she reluctantly pulled away from the apartment complex and sped away to the Neptune Grand.

When she got there, she immediately notices Logan, who was standing on the corner, singing at the top of his lungs. She could help but laugh as she got out of the car, and grabbed his arm.

"Ronnie!" He shouted, flinging his arm around her shoulder.

"Logan, you're drunk."

"State the obius smore." He slurred as she sat him in the car.

"You owe me for this. I was in the middle of something."

"More obvious. And I owe you?"

"Yeah."

"You owe me your life."

"Shut up before you hurt yourself."

"I stopped you from the bus."

"Seriously Logan, just shut up so that I can just drop you off at home. Where are your keys?"

"I unno."

"Logan!"

"Dunno!" he said sing-songingly. Veronica sighed, realizing that she would have to find some place to leave him. Normally she would drop him off at home, but he was locked out. Then she would probably give him to Duncan or Dick, but Duncan threw him out and Dick was still at the party. She was at a loss, so she did the one thing she could do. She went home.

Getting Logan inside her apartment was a struggle. He weighed twice what she did, and was less than able to walk in a straight line. She finally got her front door open, ignoring his babble, something about how she needed him, he didn't need her, they were good and his pet bunny from when he was 12. She just shook her head and left him to sit on her couch as she went to go put her stuff in her room, and by the time she came back he was passed out face down.

She shook her head as she covered him with a blanket, and decided to go to bed herself. However, sleep didn't come easy. It didn't line up and she knew it. The phone call that Ed Doyle had made was four minutes long, much too long to be a wrong number, but Carla Cotter was positive that he didn't call her. Why would he call there if he was going to kill himself? These ideas and more tumbled through her head as she fell into a restless sleep.

Sleep didn't last long for Veronica. She awoke with a start at 7:30, with a sudden urge to reread the note that Jessie had given her a copy of. She thought, maybe, just maybe she might know why everything didn't line up. The only thing she could do was to talk to Carla and she knew it.

When she stepped out of her room she saw Logan, still curled up on her couch, sucking his thumb. It made her laugh. _If only he were always that innocent_, she thought as she took out the bottle of aspirin, poured him a glass of water and wrote him a quick note reading "You were drunk, I have an errand to run. Call."

She crept out the door as quietly as possible, in an attempt to not wake him, the last thing she needed was dealing with him. Her car took a few tries to start, but when the engine finally started to run, she sped all the way to the Cotter's apartment. Things were going to get cleared up if it killed her. She stood at their door pounding for what seemed like forever until Carla finally came to open the door.

"If it was just a wrong number why did it last for four minutes?" She asked without another word. Carla just looked at her with her mouth open. "You see, I read his suicide note today, and I have a theory. I don't think that he was planning on killing himself. I think he was planning on leaving his wife, for you."

Carla looked at her in disbelief, but let her in anyway. Veronica just stayed long enough to confirm her theory, and told Carla to meet her at the Hut at 1:30. Carla looked at her as she disappeared as if the world was going to collapse, and Veronica knew the feeling. She just drove around for an hour or so, trying to clear her head. She was afraid to know the truth, because the truth meant there was another reason for the crash, a reason that she knew she had to find out.

It was about noon by the time she finally got back to her apartment, her head clear, tears exhausted. She had to be at work at 1, so she started to get ready, completely forgetting Logan, who was still snoring loudly on the couch. She was almost ready, her vest on, and makeup reapplied by the time he awoke and make his way to her room.

"Thanks," he said rubbing his eyes. She walked about him to the kitchen, noticing that the aspirin and water were gone.

"I thought you were dead for a little while, do you usually sleep for twelve hours straight."

"So you know, I woke up at 9 took what you left and went back to bed. You should really give me more credit." He smirked, "So you going to take me home now or what?"

"I thought you didn't have your keys, or was that just a clever, yet failed attempt to get in my pants."

"Don't flatter yourself. I think I left them at Dick's. Just drop me off there; one of them will give me a ride home."

"Ok, we're leaving now though." Veronica said, unable to say anything witty, she was just too preoccupied with what would happen at work. They drove it complete silence. Logan, for all his shortcomings had a talent for knowing when silence was necessary. He didn't even try to break it, until they were about two minutes away from Dick's.

"Did I, you know, say anything last night?" He said without looking at her.

"You know the usual, confessed that I was the ruler of your universe and pledged your loyalty to doing everything I ever commanded." She said, but he didn't say anything back, so she knew that he wasn't asking for a joke that time, "But really, nothing, you started talking about Beastie at one point but nothing major. Why?"

"I was just wondering, I thought I said something I didn't mean. But man, Beastie. I loved that bunny…" he said as she pulled up in front of the gate of the Casablancas manor. He opened the door but then paused for a second. "You coming tonight?" he said, looking back over his shoulder.

"Ummm…girl's night in."

"In? Aren't you guys supposed to go out, run a muck or whatever you kids call it these days. Oh wait, or do you sit in your pajama's braiding each others hair a telling each other about your deep and undying devotion to me."

"No, that's on Tuesdays, after school. Get with the times Grandpa!"

"So this is the naked pillow fight girls' night in. Intriguing."

"Get over it, Casanova. I have to go."

"What? People to do, things to see?"

"Something like that." And with that Veronica put her car into reverse and swung into the street, away from the massive stone house, speeding towards Carla Cotter's apartment. On her way there she pulled out her cell phone, pressing speed dial six to get a hold of Meg. "Hey, what are you doing tonight? I was thinking that maybe we could run to the drug store, then pick up some movies and clear this whole thing up."

"Movies?" Meg's voice said with a bit of a laugh from the other end.

"Well, if we are going to do this, we are at least going to get a movie night out of it."

"Can't we, you know, just wait?"

"Well, chances are if we wait a few months there would be some sort of sign, like oh a pregnant belly."

"Exactly. Can we?"

"You see, the way I look at it there are two problems with that. One, people, like Duncan and you parents will hate to think that you knew but didn't tell them, and they had to figure it out when you start to show… and two, the sooner you figure out if you are, the more time you have to figure out what to do. Oh and there's a three, I _really_ want to know."

"What if..."

"We'll deal with what ifs later. I'll pick you up at 7." She hung up her phone as she pulled into the parking lot at the Hut just in time to not get in trouble and started hostessing right away. It wasn't until Carla showed up that her stomach started to get that feeling, the one where she wasn't sure if what she was doing would help. She showed her to a table and less than fifteen minutes later Jessie showed up as Veronica requested after she had called and told her the truth.

Veronica showed Jessie to where Carla was sitting and introduced them, but Jessie seemed less than interested. Carla sat in silence for a moment before finally saying, "We were in love, your dad and me. He called me to tell me he'd see me later. He didn't mean to drive that bus off the cliff. He just couldn't bear to leave you and your brother with your mom."

Jessie's face softened at that, and allowed her to sit across from the woman who was proof that her father hadn't killed himself and all those kids. Veronica smiled as she saw the small action and suddenly felt relief. Even when the two others left, a look of understanding in their eyes, she had a feeling of accomplishment that made the rest of the day of work fly by.

She clocked out at 6, arriving at Meg's early, but her friend seemed more than ready to leave, no matter how unprepared she was. Meg rushed out of her house when Veronica called and smiled as she got in the passengers seat.

"You ready to do this?" Veronica said as they got to the drug store. Meg nodded. Veronica bought the test along with some ice-cream and popcorn, so that Meg wouldn't have to, and the ride back to the apartment was silent with a heavy sense of apprehension. Veronica had been trying to picture Meg pregnant again while she was at work, and the image was starting to seem more realistic, more possible by the moment.

When they walked through the door to the apartment, Meg tried to stall, putting in a movie, putting her stuff away, getting spoons for the ice cream, and it made Veronica want to scream. "You want to know, I know you do. It's now or never." She said with a smile, holding the box out.

"I pick never." Meg said with a sad little smile as she took the box and went to the bathroom. She came out a minute later holding the small white stick, as Veronica turned on the timer. It was only three minutes, but it seemed like an eternity. It struck Veronica as odd that in three minutes, one of their lives had the possibility of changing forever, a little white stick with the color pink ruling over the course of the rest of Meg's life.

Both of the girls jumped at the sound of the timer and they both just stared at each other. Meg held it out to Veronica, a clear statement that she couldn't look. Veronica took it from her and turned it over, revealing a plus.

"Meg…" she said slowly.

"I'm pregnant aren't I?" She said as Veronica nodded, "I thought so; I just needed to know for sure. I have had a week to think this through." She tried to smile, but couldn't. She wasn't sure if she wanted to cry or not. It wasn't really a shock, it was more of a slap in the face that you saw coming.

Veronica just looked at the girl who could probably be described as her best girl friend and all she could muster up was a simple and pathetic, "It will be ok. You know you at least have me."

Meg smiled at that and gave her a hug. "V, do you think we could postpone the movie for a little bit. I think there is something I need to do."

With that Veronica grabbed her keys, instinctively pulling out in the direction of the Neptune Grand. "What do you think he'll say?" Meg said after a few moments of silence, both of the girls having a lot on their minds and all.

"I don't know. I honestly don't know." Veronica said with a smile, trying to be supportive. Then and there they decided that they would both go up to Duncan's room and Veronica would wait outside the room for moral support.

The elevator ride up to his floor was probably the hardest, Veronica fighting Meg to keep her from pressing the button to take them back down. Meg paced the hall for a minute before she could knock on his door, and when she finally did, she looked at her friend with a look of complete fear of what could happen.

Duncan opened the door quickly, a sign that he had just been sitting around and accepted Meg in with a kiss. All Veronica heard before the door closed and cut her off was "Duncan, I need to…"

She stood there for about thirty seconds, feeling very awkward just standing there when the door of the hall opened and Logan Echolls stepped out of the room.

"Veronica… Stalking Duncan again? Tsk Tsk." He said raising an eyebrow.

"I'm here for Meg." She said almost in surrender, not needing anymore drama after her afternoon. "Why is it that I can't do one little thing without you somehow weaseling your way in?"

"I guess you'll never know." He said as he disappeared into the elevator with a little smirk. She glanced back at the hotel room he just left and took out her cell phone. She knew it was kind of wrong, but she just needed to know what he had been up to. She called information asking for the Neptune Grand. By the time they connected her to room 1147 and a woman's voice answered, the door behind her burst open, an obviously upset Meg running out with Duncan appearing right after her.

"What?" Duncan screamed as Meg started to push the button for the elevator and looked back at the other blonde who was standing next to the door in shock.

"Come on Veronica, let's go home."

**If you know the episode, you know where Logan was 5th period that day, so yes, I AM including that, but trust me, it won't be the same as you expect. And I know some things weren't in order, but they worked out better this way for the whole drunken party rescue. So sorry if that was confusing or upsetting in anyway.**


	3. Connecting the Dots

**Ok, so 14 pages was a bit long wasn't it, this one is more like… 10. I promise they won't be as rambling anymore, because I know most of you don't want to spend like an hour reading one chapter. Thank you so much for the reviews again, I do love my feedback, both positive and negative, so keep it coming so I know what I can do better, or if I need to keep things up.**

**I am sorry that it's taking a bit long, but I did warn you. I just finished my second week of school and I pulled 5, yes 5, 14 hour school days. So I have been exhausted.**

**And in response to Sweetslayer810, I'm a massive LoVe fan, trust me, I root for them all the time, however, something to keep in mind is that they are still ex's and they didn't have the space the her dating Duncan caused in the actual second season. So, she will be a little icy to him for awhile, I mean there is a lot of time for them to be together.**

**This chapter was…. Not easy to write. Mainly because I didn't want to write about what happens, the next chapter will be too. But once we get into like chapters 5 and 6 things should get better, because my heart will be more into them, and hopefully my muse will come back.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own them; I'm just borrowing them from the genius that is Rob Thomas.**

**_Chapter Three: Connecting the Dots_**

Veronica looked across the quad the following Monday at lunch trying to come up with some way that everything could return to normal, but she couldn't. Too many things were irreversible. The bus had crashed, Meg was pregnant, and the entire school was filled with self-centered egotistical assholes like Dick Casablancas, no, she decided, nothing was ever going to be normal.

She was about to return her gaze to her food when she noticed Meg coming through the quad. Meg looked over at Duncan, made eye contact but then looked away, giving him the cold shoulder as he slumped down against the table. She almost felt bad for him.

Meg had stayed the night at her house after they left the Neptune Grand, and then stayed again on Sunday, her parents orders. Duncan had tried calling her house until three in the morning after they left, trying to get a hold of her, and then only stopped to come to her door. Her parents threatened to call the cops and then called Meg saying that they had told Duncan that she was in bed and didn't wish to speak to him, so she had better stay at Veronica's until school.

Meg continued the cold shoulder routine until she got to Veronica's usual table. "You can't do that forever you know." Veronica said matter of factly, returning to her focused study of the meatloaf on her tray.

"He deserves it."

"No he doesn't. Meg, he freaked out. What do you expect?"

"He didn't freak out. He snapped. Screaming at me, calling me a liar because we had used protection."

"I know, you told me. But, he was in shock. You and I both know that Duncan loves you." Veronica said, looking up again only to see Duncan staring at Meg, a pathetic look on his face. "You should talk to him again. Now that he's accepted the fact."

"What difference does it make to you?"

"Well… One, you are one of my best friends, and I care about you and you future. And, two, I am completely sick of seeing him look like that, it's pathetic really." Meg laughed.

"Ok, I'll talk to him after school. Happy?"

"Very."

"So, where you off to next?"

"Well as of next period, I, Veronica Mars, will be a Future Business Leader of America." She said, her voice dripping with overzealousness.

"You? In the FBLA?"

"My councilor suggested that I needed some major resume packing, considering my extracurriclars are, well…"

"A little covert opps?"

"Exactly."

"Well have fun with that." Meg winked as the bell rang and they all scattered from the quad. Veronica made her way across the school toward the room, guaranteed to be filled to the brim with rich 09er's, wondering why she had let her councilor talk her into that particular activity when she heard the all too familiar voice of her not so favorite house guest.

"Hey Ronnie." Logan said as he walked through the door ahead of her. "What are you doing in the FBLA? Can't you get enough of me? Oh, and do you have my cell, I haven't been able to find it since like Saturday."

Veronica was about to respond when Mr. Casablancas walked through the door, clapping Logan on the back. "Hey Logan."

"Her Mr. C." Logan responded quickly, sitting down before the conversation could go anywhere. The seat Logan had taken however, only left one spot open for Veronica and it just so happened to be between him and Duncan. She said a quick prayer before sitting down, as the teacher introduced Mr. Casablanca's who nodded over at Dick, overlooking Cassidy, who looked as if he had been slapped in the face.

Veronica never claimed to understand the interest that the "billionaire boys club" had in exploiting the poor, as they got richer. She didn't pay much attention to the talk that took place in the next hour, and tried to stealthily get out the room before she could hear another one of Dick's ever so clever quips about her being there, when Beaver stopped her.

"Hey Veronica."

"Hi."

"I think it's cool that you joined the FBLA."

"Being poor and all?"

"No, being a girl and all." He said, stopping for a second, shifting his weight back and forth. "Look, I need your help. I'm worried about my dad."

"He seems to be doing just fine."

"No, not money, well, more about my step mom. She's a gold digger, and apparently I'm the only one who sees it."

"And what do you want little old me to do about that?" She said starting to walk away, but he followed her.

"One picture. Of Kendal violating her pre-nup. I'll pay."

"How much?"

"500."

"1000."

"Fine. Here's a copy of her schedule. Good luck." He said handing her a sheet of paper before disappearing around the corner. She shook her head as she tried to find her keys but slowly realized she wouldn't need them, seeing as her favorite Deputy was blocking her in.

"The sheriff wants to talk to you."

"Did I not make it clear about prom?" she said, slowly going to the now open door of the car.

A quick trip and a short but very disturbing meeting with Lamb later, an even more confused Veronica Mars was dropped off at her car. She had no clue as to why a man she had only seen once as she had driven past the cliff had her name scrawled across his hand before biting the big one. All she knew was that she would have to figure that out, along with who caused the bus crash, who was breaking into Logan's house, and who Kendall was cheating with. At least the last one should be easy.

After a night of research on Kendall and Curly Moran, and teasing her father about taking Wallace's mom to Chicago, Veronica set herself out for tailing Kendall. Outside from the short yellow skirt and overly done attitude, Kendall was about as boring as the 6th period class she was missing, but she did get a couple of shots of the gold digger entering a hotel room with a man. She hoped that would be enough.

At school on Wednesday, she made it through the first few periods before lunch without much excitement. Meg had talked to Duncan, so the two of them were, although not a hundred percent okay, talking, and she didn't have to listen to that, and Wallace wasn't in any of them, so she couldn't catch up on everything she had missed since she had last talked to him before the weekend.

She was determined she would have to find him during lunch, but she didn't have to. Before she knew it he was finding her, sitting at their usual lunch table. She was about to say something when he was distracted by the new transfer student. "Oh, if it isn't the friend who was in need." She said under her breath.

"What? You know Jackie, I introduced you two, didn't I?"

"Yeah, I just, I didn't know you two were lunch buddies."

"I was going for lunch buddies with benefits. And, hey I like her, down girl."

"What?" She said as Jackie plopped herself down complaining about Pride and Prejudice. Veronica was determined to play nice. Wallace had always been there for her, so she stepped out of herself when she said "Meg and I were going to watch the movie, we can fast forward through the boring stuff, plus Colin Firth is in it, if you two want to join?"

Jackie nodded her approval, so Veronica excused herself from the table to go find Cassidy and leave the two to each others company. It didn't take her long to find him. He was sitting alone, underneath the flag pole doing an assignment of some sort, a small frown pasted across his face.

"This is all I got." She said hesitantly, not sure if she wanted to interrupt him, as she dropped an envelope in his lap. He riffled through them, but he shook his head.

"This isn't enough. You don't know what they are doing behind that curtain."

"Fine, I'll get you the shot, but I need a hundred dollars and for you to download all of her music on this." She said as she handed him an iPod shuffle. The bell rang, preventing further conversation, but she couldn't exactly complain considering the lack of things that they ever had to talk about. The two both headed over to FBLA and again Veronica was left between Duncan and Logan. She already could tell that she was in for a long lecture on investment and wasn't looking forward to it when Logan leaned over her desk.

"Duncan, where's your girlfriend? I didn't see her ever so doting form on your arm this morning. Don't tell me you couldn't hold on to that one too. I mean, sure Veronica could have been your sister but Meg… I mean, what did she get on her purity test, a 48? Don't tell me you couldn't keep up." He smirked. Veronica wasn't sure why he would do that, although the two hadn't exactly been the best of friends since the truth about Logan's father came out.

Before she think anymore Duncan let out a low almost growl before leaping from his seat tackling Logan to the ground as Veronica tried to duck out of the way of their flailing fists. The two made it out into the hall, banging each other into lockers and throwing some punches before two teachers finally pulled them apart and took them to the nurse's office.

The two sat in silence as the nurse dowsed Logan with peroxide and bandages. She finally broke the silence, "I'm done here, the principal will be waiting for the two of you in his office. And if this was about girls, I don't think they would be very impressed." With that she snapped off her gloves and walked out the door, leaving the two in the silence which she had broken.

"I think Veronica was very impressed." Duncan finally said under his breath.

"What?" Logan said standing up.

"We all know you have been bitter since Veronica dumped you. You lost her, get over it."

"Forget Veronica…"

"You haven't."

"I mean, where were you this summer?"

"What?"

"Remember? I was accused of murder, swept into a whirlwind of problems. I was trying not to sink, and you just stood by and watched me drown. Remember that?"

"I do remember this summer. I was trying to come to terms with something. Like what? Oh yeah, your dad killed my sister!"

"I hate him too you know." Logan said as the nurse returned to finish up with Duncan. He turned down the hall tears in his eyes, however he was determined that things would work out.

Veronica was curious about what had happened in FBLA, but she didn't have time to ask. The next time she saw Duncan was when she showed up at his suite, Pride and Prejudice in hand, trying to smile. There they were, the two couples and her, the fifth wheel and every minute that passed she felt more and more of a need to escape. She tried hard to keep in mind the pathetic metaphor that Meg had come up with. "Cars have four wheels" she had said after school when Veronica had tried to back out. "But they also have a steering wheel, which they need to get anywhere. Love is blind, Veronica, we need you to guide us."

Finally about an hour in everyone seemed to be getting bored. She felt she had done her job, she got Wallace and Jackie together for a night, and Meg and Duncan were being a little more like a couple, so she texted Mac with a plea.

Two minutes later, her cell phone rang, Mac on the other end asking what was wrong. "What? You need me right now? Can't it wait?" Veronica said, ignoring whatever was going on on the other end of the phone. "Ok, I'll be there soon. Bye."

She hung up her phone and looked at everyone apologetically, "That was a client, she really needs my help. Let me know how all this is. And Duncan, thanks for letting us over." She said quickly as she gathered her things and made a b-line for the door.

She found it hard to sleep that night, trying to figure out what had happened with Logan and Duncan, and also trying to figure out what Kendall could be doing behind those curtains if she _wasn't_ having an affair. With her brain on overload, the morning seemed to come too soon and before she knew it she was at school, getting an iPod shuffle back from Cassidy and ditching half of her classes to make the switch at the gym.

She had made Cassidy promise to steal the iPod back as soon as he could and give it to her the next day at school. She debated the best way to make the switch, as she made her way into the gym. Veronica wondered how anyone could possibly be as non-stop as Kendall; she had a full schedule all the time and still have the energy to keep her heart in the red zone on the step-master.

"Hey!" She said, in an overly peppy tone tapping Kendall on the shoulder, "I noticed we had the same iPod. And mine is totally not working right and I don't know if it's the iPod or the ear phones and well I j…"

"Yeah yeah yeah, what do you want before my heart rate drops?"

"Can I borrow yours to see if it's the headphones?"

"Fine whatever; make it fast, my ass needs major work."

"Hmmm." Veronica said, changing the song a few times, "the headphones work. Oooh and I love your songs!"

"Yeah, me too." Kendall said snatching back the iPod Veronica held out without looking, before starting back up the machine. Veronica shadowed her after the gym just to make sure that she covered all her bases, following her to one of her husband's hotels with the man that she had seen the first time around. Veronica was about to leave as the door to their room closed when she noticed the name of the hotel. _The Sandpiper,_ she thought quickly digging through her bag, pulling out the papers she had from FBLA, noticing that the Sandpiper she saw on the papers was nothing like the run down motel she saw in front of her, and suddenly she knew someone was getting screwed. _Maybe its time for the poor to exploit the rich._

She took a few minutes out of tailing the young Mrs. Casablancas to stop by the garage where David Moran worked. She was hoping that someone would have heard him mention her or something to that extent, but no one knew a thing and all she ended up with was a box of his belongings, which included a slightly repulsive calendar, a few rags and a few autographed pictures. What troubled her most was the one that read "All these years still on the 'Long Haul' Always your pal, Aaron Echolls." If he knew Aaron, then was her after her before he was killed? She wondered as she put the box into her car and drove away. She had work that night, and Cassidy called as she was on her was there, saying Kendall dropped of her bag before going out again and he could drop the iPod off at the Hut.

He stuck around after he got there, hoping that she would download them then and there. Cassidy looked so desperate that she couldn't help but oblige. She left him with her laptop downloading the pictures off of the small camera that was in it as she went back to the hostess post at the front of the café.

When she finally got a break she went back to find that Cassidy was gone as was the iPod, an image frozen on the screen of her laptop. It was an incriminating picture, Kendall standing in her underwear looking at a guy clad only in boxers, a bed in view. At first her reaction was to find Cassidy, get payment, when she took a second glance. She recognized that room, and the she realized that she recognized the man in the picture. Sandy brown hair, and searing eyes that she used to gaze lovingly into.

"Logan." She whispered harshly as she slammed her laptop closed and went back to work. By the time she finally clocked out she had had more than enough time to think about what she had seen. She tried calling Logan's cell phone when she realized he didn't have it on him anymore. She quickly searched her car, looking for any sign of it, but didn't find it. She drove home, knowing that Logan needed to know that Dick Senior knew his dirty little secret, but collapsed on the couch instead, completely exhausted. She awoke the next morning, fifteen minutes before she had to leave with an ache in her side.

Sitting up veronica reached her hand under the cushion to find Logan's cell phone. She took the opportunity to snoop, turning the phone on, and noticing that he had quite a few missed calls from Beaver's step mom, before the battery died. She slid the phone into her bag before driving off to school. She made it her mission to find Logan, but after fifteen minutes and the warning of the first bell, he was nowhere to be seen, so against her best judgment she walked slowly up to Dick Casablancas who stood at his locker.

"Dick" She said, but he ignored her, "Dick," she said again slamming his locker closed, narrowly missing his head.

"Bitch!"

"Yeah, not creative. Have you seen Logan?"

"No. Wait, I think he said something about flying into space this morning. Oh wait, no that was that guy on the Discovery channel."

"Seriously."

"No clue, do I look like his mother."

"Ew, definitely not a picture I needed. You procreating. Anyway thanks for your time, Dick." She said, knocking him into the lockers as she passed. She was making her way out of the building when she heard her name from behind.

"Veronica!" Wallace said, waving her down with Jackie on his arm. "Meg and Duncan were thinking that we could finish P&P tomorrow night, his place. You in?"

"I can't, I think I have to work. Look, I have to go; I'll talk to you later?" She said, rushing away to her car.

Veronica hadn't driven to Logan's since early in the summer, so it surprised her that it still seemed like second nature. The streets were pretty much empty at 8 in the morning so she made good time, and pulled into his driveway just as a black convertible was pulling out.

She knocked on the door and was immediately let in by the maid, who had always liked her and made her way to Logan's room. Part of her almost dreaded opening the door, but then she heard him singing from the shower. She made herself comfortable on the wall across from his bathroom door, a perfectly rehearsed scowl across her face.

"Here's your cell phone. You know, it's a pity that your girlfriend missed that lovely rendition of 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough.'" She smirked as he stopped dead in his tracks. She hated to admit that he looked good when he was only wearing a towel, but her mind was diverted when he just stared at her, with a blank look on his face. "Wait? Are you confused? Let me clear that up. I'm sorry I just missed your girlfriend. The one who has a husband who is going to demolish you, now that he knows that his sons surfing buddy is doing his wife."

"Ah, now, that is why I was confused. That one is not so much of a girlfriend but more of a…playmate."

"I really hope you are scared Logan. What if I had been Mr. Casablacas? Do you really have a death wish? I mean I used to think that everything that happened to you was bad luck. But now I see, you go looking for it. You like the thrill. You are actually enjoying this!"

"I guess then I must be grateful that I have you then, what did you call yourself? Oh yes, 'a regular guardian angel' that was it."

"Honestly I don't give a rats ass what happens now Logan, I just came so I won't feel guilty for giving Beaver pictures of you and his step mom playing house. And don't worry it was just a job."

"Just a job? So you storm out? Damn it Veronica, that's professional."

"Don't you dare get a tone like that with me after what I know you've been doing."

"You think I was really into Kendall? I needed to do something! You just left me, for no apparent reason. Scratch that, no good reason, and I was left to deal with the whirlwind that my father created by myself, the one good thing I had going for me, gone. She was there, I figured why not. It didn't mean anything. It was something to take my mind off things for a little while."

"You take your mind off of things with a new hobby, a new car, a vacation, NOT some bimbo who is married to your friend's dad, Logan."

"Whatever Veronica." He said as she stormed out of his room, slamming the door behind her. She started to show herself out, running down through the kitchen, when something caught her eye. It was a poster, a big picture of Aaron Echolls face, a gun underneath it, a flaming truck crashing through the air in the back ground. Suddenly it made sense. 'All these years still on the "Long Haul".' It wasn't an expression, it was a movie. A 1982 action movie introducing the soon to be star Aaron Echolls, in which was the timeless stunt where a truck went veering off a bridge, a stunt coordinated by Curly Moran. He knew how to pull off something like that; he could probably pull it off with a bus. She stood there, her eyes starting to tear, as she heard Logan opening the fridge 20 feet away from her.

"If this is your idea of storming out…" he started when he noticed her standing in the hallway staring, but stopped when she turned to look at him, the look on her face breaking his heart. She wanted to run but she couldn't make her feet move, so she just stood frozen as he came closer to her.

"It was me." She said in a whisper.

"What? Veronica…" he said, his voice sounding almost annoyed when he said her name, taking another step in her direction.

"The bus crash. It was meant for me." She paused again, taking a deep breath, "They all died because of me." He watched as she started to burst into tears. He took another step, saying her name, but this time much gentler. He reached for her, wanting to pull her close and tell her it would be alright, but before he could, she ran, tears streaming down her face.


	4. Jealous Much?

**Wow, more amazing reviews. You have no idea what they mean to me, everything is kind of falling apart around me lately with family and friends and school, and it may seem sad, but getting reviews from you guys, both good and bad, just knowing that others are enjoying something that I do to unwind just brightens my day. So keep them coming. (special thanks to BuffyBC and moustrich for reviewing every chapter, and also oxsummerxo and LoVe23 for also reviewing often. And everyone else rocks too!)**

**Ok, now that I've been all sappy. A few people have asked when the LoVe was coming. And my answer is soon, but realistically, probably not for two or three more chapters, because from the way they have been in the last two it is clear that they aren't quite ready for that yet. So hold on… it won't be until the last few chapters like the real season. I HATED that. So it will be soon, hold your horses.**

**Disclaimer: As you all know, I don't own it. Rob Thomas does and whatever network has it at this given moment gets credit as well.**

**Oh, and this was another hard episode to write… partially because Logan is barely in it, partially because a couple of the scenes don't work anymore with what I'm trying to do, and also because I have a few ideas for the next two chapters… and I really want to write them, so I rushed this one a bit.**

**_Chapter Four: Jealous Much?_**

Veronica sat in her father's office over a week later and still had the events of that Friday haunting her. Her cell phone didn't help. It just had to ring everyday, saying that Logan was trying to talk to her. The thing was, she couldn't. She went out of her way to avoid him like the plague and he wasn't making it easy.

He started by calling her right after she left as she drove away, of course she didn't answer, ashamed of crying in front of him. He called twice more that day before finally leaving a message saying, "Ronnie, I don't know what happened, but I'm here if you need me, I've always have been."

That had made her cry even more, he had always known just what to say, what was just enough with out prying into her thoughts. She hated that he knew her so well. She didn't want him to, so despite the sudden urge to answer she felt when he called again the next day, she let it go to voice mail.

He only called that one time Saturday, but then on Sunday she got another message at about 10:30 at night saying, "Ok Ronnie, I even called Duncan to see if he's heard from you, and apparently you haven't even talked to Meg. You have us worried. And honestly, you know I'm too pretty to get worry lines, so call back."

The next day at school she hid out, only seeing him in the two classes they had together, which she made sure to dash out of the minute the bell rang. He called her a few times off and on through the week and stopped leaving messages that were at all caring. They start to be just, "Way to avoid me Mars. Oh and by the way, you still have a job I'm paying you for."

She knew about the job, and she had heard around that things were still disappearing from Logan's house, but somehow she just couldn't bring herself to talk to him. The phone that sat on the desk in front of her finally vibrated just once, signifying a message. That was when she actually brought herself to pick it up. The message this time was just, "I'll stop now." _Good_ she thought to herself as a woman with very dyed blonde hair and too pink outfit burst through the door.

"I need to higher a private detective?" The woman said sitting herself down in front of the desk, "I know you aren't open on Sundays, but its kind of an emergency. I need you to investigate my boyfriend, well potential fiancé, now that I found an engagement ring in his gym bag."

"You found it?" Veronica said with a smirk. There was nothing like an obsessively nosey girlfriend, they always paid the most.

"I need total information."

"Well, I can write it all down and leave it for Mr. Mars to look at first thing tomorrow."

"His name is Colin Nevin. What can you get me?"

"Well there's our standard package, background check, criminal record…" the woman shook her head. "Then there's our premium package, we talk to a few friends, maybe chat with an ex."

"See that's what I'm afraid of. Look Colin is a trust fund kid, with a lot of free time. I want to know what he does all day."

"That would call for our silver package. Premium plus surveillance. An all access pass into his private life."

The woman nodded handing her a card. "I'll take it."

"Alright, Miss… Block, I'll have Mr. Mars look into your case." At that her father walked through the door. "Mr. Mars, Julie Block." Her father shook the woman's hand as she made her way out the door, but the smile on his face started to slowly fade until he was at the desk shaking his head.

"Jumpy fiancé?"

"Potential fiancé, with money burning a hole in her pocket. She will pay anything."

"Well, I appreciate that, but I don't have time for the cases as it is, you know now that you convinced me to run for sheriff again. Plus you work at Java the Hut."

"Oh yeah, those tips really pay off. Come on; just let me help out, on the little things, nothing dangerous that would involve a suit of armor. Please?"

"Well, your other job is being a student; can't you just do normal teenage things for once? Just call Miss Jumpy and tell her I can't take the case."

At that Veronica picked up the phone, pretending to dial. She put on her most convincing voice and told the dial tone that Mr. Mars couldn't take anymore cases at the time. _ My dad may not be able to, but I sure have the time. Plus it will be something to take my mind off things._

Later that night, through a meeting with Julie, learning that she was the typical jealous girlfriend, afraid that a framed photo at his home and phone calls at night equaled cheating. She was also one of those head cases who lied about their money, because she wanted him to want her for who she was. Personally, Veronica thought that who ever her boyfriend was must be crazy, but 2000 dollars spoke louder than the voice in her head so she took the case and promised to look into everything before going to bed and falling promptly asleep.

The next day's classes were all boring, and tailing Julie's boyfriend proved to be just as dull. She sat and watched him run laps for and hour and a half, the only good thing coming out of it was finishing all of her homework. Tuesday wasn't much better, not until she saw Wallace and his AM donut run goodies.

"My dad spend the night again? Do the AM Donut fake out I see." Wallace raised his eye brows at her comment, holding out the bag. Suddenly Jackie came out of nowhere, smacking is butt on the way. _ I really don't like her._ Veronica thought as Wallace waved goodbye and walked away with the new girl, but then got distracted at the sight of Dick and Logan walking in her direction.

She knew she couldn't avoid Logan forever, after all they were supposedly friends, but it was just too hard to deal with him at the moment, so she slid into the girl's bathroom until the bell rang. After school she was prepared to fall asleep at a tennis match, but when she got in her car to follow him to the court, he ended up at 8520 Primrose Lane.

She took a few pictures and gave Julie a call. That was where the caller who he kept talking to on the phone lived and at that information, Julie promptly hung up her phone, leaving Veronica the opportunity to snoop further.

She got out of her car, sneaking around looking around the property, and she had just started to look into the window when she heard tires screech behind her, and a very angry Julie Block came storming out of the convertible.

Veronica shouted to stop she, screamed at her, but it took a football style tackle to get Julie off the warpath. "Julie!" she shouted "He's in there with a rabbi."

"But he's not Jewish. I AM!" Julie said, struggling but Veronica kept her hold.

"Um…." Veronica said, shaking her head, as Julie put two and two together. Then it hit Veronica. Julie was just going to get more impossible the longer it took to get the truth. He thought was confirmed when her cell phone rang at 2:27 in the morning, with Julie, complaining about the woman on the bar. She wanted more. So Veronica gave it to her. The extra thousand she figured would be well worth it.

Veronica however, was not thinking about the extra money as she trudged around school half awake from late night chitchat. She thought she was going to make it through the day with out much fuss, which she appreciated, until good old Weevil decided to show up at her locker after last period.

"So I heard that you got to take a ride downtown last week. Did you flop for the cops? Or better yet, did they hook you up with some ankle bling?" He said, leaning casually again the locker next to hers.

"You know, every time something goes wrong it's my fault! And speaking of bling, I did not know that you were a genie. Are ya holdin' out on me?" She said pointing to the hoops attached to his ears.

"Well you try to find out by rubbing my head and you won't have that arm of yours anymore." That's when it clicked for her. When she got called in about Curly Moran, Lamb had an earring that he accused her of owning. She knew she had seen that thing before, and now she knew where.

"Well, they are better than the disco ball you usually wear. Where is it? Cuz I'm thinking an evidence bag down at the sheriff's office." She stared for a second. "The question is, what was it doing at the Road Hog?"

"I don't know what you are talking about. I don't own an earring like that."

"Really, cuz you're wearing it in your yearbook picture. Hello sheriff's office!" She said pulling out her cell phone.

"Alright alright," he said pulling her away from the rest of the PCHer's, "A couple weeks ago, I got this call saying that Moran was hired to pull off the bus crash by the Fitzpatricks. Said that they were after Cervando."

"As in the Fighting Fitzpatricks?"

"Yeah. Cervando kept saying he had hustled Liam Fitzpatrick."

"That's a lot of info. What did you do?"

"Nothing." She raised an eyebrow. "The Fitzptricks may do a hell of a lot, but they would crash a bus load over a few grand. So I ignored it. I can even give you the number if you want. I called him back already, but it just rings. Look, am I going to be brought in by Lamb, because if I am, I really should put on my good underwear."

"Yeah, you know, if your underwear stand up on your own, you should change them anyway." She said, after she programmed in the number she had gotten off of his phone. She didn't really want to follow through with the gold package, so she stalled, going home, taking a nap, even looking into the Fitzpatricks a bit, but finally she got up the energy to pick up her cell and make a call, putting her plan to get the dirt on Colin into action.

"Wallace, old buddy, old pal!"

"Veronica," he said pulling away from Jackie who was nibbling on his neck. "Are you in life threatening danger?"

"At this moment no, but I really need an AV guy to help me out with a scenario I have going down in a half an hour."

"Hey, I'd love to help, but I have my own little scenario going on right here."

"Wallace, what do you think you would be getting if you had say… two hundred to spend on the little lady?"

With that Wallace hung up, throwing his shoes on. "When she tells you to jump, you should really say how high." Jackie said, pouting at the end of the couch.

"We're friends Jackie. She needs my help, so I'm going to come through, she would do if for me."

"Well then, I may have to have a little… chat with Goldilocks."

"I wouldn't do that. Veronica isn't someone you want to piss off."

"Neither am I."

"Fine, just come with." Wallace said finally, pulling his key off of the coffee table and heading to the front door.

Fifteen minutes later, the two were waiting in front of a huge ocean front house as Veronica pulled up in the LeBaron, and stepped out of the car wearing the most slutty yet innocent outfit she could muster.

"Sorry I'm late. Hand me a mic," she said to him, before noticing that Jackie still sat in the passenger's seat. "What is she doing here?"

"Do you own those clothes…?" He said, ignoring her question. "Or did you have to stop at Dirty Co-Eds-R-Us?"

"Ha Ha." She said, stuffing the microphone down her shirt. "And fine whatever, as long as she doesn't get you too distracted she can stay."

"Good because I got to make a little peace with my woman."

"Your woman? Are you sure. I mean I saw her the day after our first Pride and Prejudice night with some guy at Java the Hut."

"That was like a couple of weeks ago, when we had been on like two dates."

"So things have… progressed."

"You haven't seen her with anyone else lately have you now." He said as he went to go let the air out of her tire. "Now you just go do you job, while I do mine."

Veronica pranced up to the door, putting on her best flirt as she got him to come out to help her with her tire. She even managed to stick her butt and her chest out as she leaned over to wipe oil off of her forehead. She thought that would work, but it didn't, so she played the whole 'I need to e-mail my mid-term to my professor' ruse, but it didn't work either. She became so desperate that she attempted to pull off the the whole, I'm a crazy college girl just looking to have some fun thing. But no matter how thick she layed it on he didn't buy it, so she went and snooped at his computer as she "e-mailed her mid-term."

It was taking longer than she expected, and Jackie was getting impatient so Wallace made his way to the door, hoping to speed it along. He had heard that she had found out a lot of what she wanted, so he figured it couldn't hurt, but when he rang the doorbell, Veronica begged him to stall from the top of the stairs. He stood their shell shocked until suddenly he burst out with.

"Would you like so save the hungry, starving children of… the world?" he smiled timidly at the man in front of him.

Colin hesitated for a second, "Are you selling something?"

"Oh, yes. I'm selling pens and… candy. Yep, pens and candy."

"I'll take a few boxes of candy. What do you have?" Wallace was about to panic when suddenly he heard a female voice behind him.

"Actually," Jackie appeared at his side, "We are taking a survey right now as to what colored pens and which kind of candies will sell the most, so that our fundraiser will have the greatest affect on the population." Wallace looked at her with wonder and amazement.

"Oh well, I like black pens and chocolate is…" he started as Veronica came bursting past him with the CD in hand.

"Thanks so much, I e-mailed the paper and called AAA. Your karma's golden!" she pushed Jackie and Wallace away from the door. "Thanks so much you guys. I think I just got everything I needed."

"Well, don't look at is as a favor for you. Wallace was looking like an idiot and I just couldn't have that now could I?" Jackie said pulling Wallace towards the car. Wallace just smiled at Veronica as she mouthed thank you one last time. Then they all got in their cars and drove off.

Veronica couldn't help but feel bad for Colin. He seemed like a good guy, devoted, even going to a rabbi for his girlfriend, while Julie was hiring her to dig up everything. She couldn't sleep that night she wanted to tell Julie what she found so bad. After digging on the internet a bit as well, she found out that Colin Neville had definitely found out the fact that Julie was wealthy.

The next day she rushed out of school to get to the office, calling Julie in. "How was it? Was it awful?" Julie said, most likely about the scenario Veronica had set up.

"Actually, he was a perfect gentleman. He wouldn't stop talking about you."

"I guess that makes me a jealous freak, right?"

"There's more…" Veronica said, sitting down on the couch with a file, "After a very, very extensive investigation, it seems that Colin has been nothing but loyal. Also, everyone I talked to thought he was an amazing guy."

"The bad news…?"

"The house he is living isn't his. He's house sitting, for Nicholas Cage. And also, it appears as though he did look into your background, and probably knows that you are wealthy."

"I should have known! They always just want the money. He told me he had a trust fund, and let me believe that house was his!"

Veronica was about to say something about how she had been digging up dirt on him too, when he father walked through the door. A frown swept across his face at the sight of Julie. "Miss Block, I need to speak to Veronica alone for a minute."

"Oh its ok." She said slowly gathering her purse. "I need to go stand in traffic for awhile anyway."

"Another satisfied customer? Well, please file this under cases I don't have time for but my disobedient daughter can take behind my back."

"Look I'm sorry."

"For taking the case? Or for getting caught?"

"Ok. Both, but I thought it was crazy to pass up on that kind of money when I could handle it."

"Veronica, when you're eighteen you can't handle everything, believe it or not. And you don't get away with it all either. Whether is playing I-Spy after school or having Logan Echolls spend the night when I'm out of town?" With that her father closed the door to his office before she could say anything in her defense. She didn't have Logan over because she wanted to. It didn't matter; she knew he wouldn't listen anyway.

She sat down staring at the computer in front of her when something hit her. She picked up the phone and dialed Julie's number, hoping to catch her before she did anything stupid. "Julie?" she said as she heard a click.

"I just did it. It's over, as soon as he checks his messages." Julie said through tears.

"You broke up with him through his answering… Anyway, Julie, the search he did on your family was done five days ago. You found the ring weeks ago. He was going to propose before he found out that you had money. He was probably just trying to find your dad to ask him permission."

"But he lied about the house!"

"Did he ever tell you he owned it?"

"It was implied! That means he probably lied about the trust fund too!"

"Well you weren't exactly honest with him either."

"It's different. Its one thing to say you don't have money when you do, the other way around is way worse." With that Veronica hung up. Julie was making her sick. So money did matter, just not to him.

She drove home after that, not wanting to be at the office anymore but as she drove something hit her. She took a second look at the handkerchief that Colin had given her to wipe off the oil on her face, and then made a bee-line to the liquor cabinet. When you spend years watching your mother take out bottle after bottle, you start to remember the labels, and the lable of the bottle in her hand matched the emblem on the piece of fabric that lay on the counter.

At that moment she knew what she had to do. Twenty minutes later she was dropping off a box at Julie's house. Its contents included the bottle from the liquor cabinet, a few articles talking about the company, the handkerchief and a note. The note stated simply that everything Colin had ever told her was true. They both had just wanted to be loved for who they were and not for their money and obviously only one of them was.

By the time she got back to the apartment her fathers car was pulled into its spot, making her hesitant to open the door. But when she stepped inside the living room, the face her father was making was not of shame like it had been at the office, but more of a smirk.

"What?" She said raising one eyebrow.

"Alright. Maybe I could use a little help down at the office. A bit."

"I'm sorry come again?" She said, but got nothing in return, "You are never going to tell me what prompted this are you?" He nodded. "Wait! Did you mix up two clients again? You did, didn't you! Ha!"

"I'm just asking you to help out with simple things, files, research, the phones… Just a couple days a week, as long as you keep your job at the Hut!" Veronica shook her head as she headed into her room. With Julie out of the way, she had remember the tip that Weevil had told her about a few days before, and was currently anxious to find out who the mysterious tipster was.

She typed in the number into a search, but what she came up with puzzled her. One phone call later and she found herself staring at her wall again with a look or surprise. But then again, she wasn't really surprised; consider these days he seemed to be the root of most of her problems. With that she went to bed, a new mission set for the next day at school.

When she arrived the next morning, she went on the war path looking for Logan. After ten minutes of searching, she finally saw him casually walking across the quad… alone. She approached him with caution.

"Ok! So now you talk to me. You must want something. Wait wait, I can't take the begging. Let's see, I've already let you have your way with me, but I guess one more time won't hurt." He said with a smirk, readjusting the backpack that was slung casually over his shoulder.

"Saturday September 24th, there was a two minute call on Weevil's cell phone from a hotel room that you had booked at the Neptune Grand. The caller claimed that Curly Moran was responsible for the bus crash, the same Curly Moran who's friends with your dad. Any explanations, cuz I'm sure this ones gonna be good." She said defiantly.

"Alas my day is complete; Veronica Mars has accused me of evil." He twirled his imaginary mustache. "Well first off, who the hell is Curly Moran and how do you know he knows my dad?"

"Well, the proof is the poster in your house that shows that Curly Moran was the stunt coordinator of 'The Long Haul' a movie starring your father."

"Not that poster again… Veronica…"

"Now September 24th."

"That was the night of my Life's Short party."

"Oh yes. A bunch of your classmates plummet off a cliff and you and Dick throw a party. And that was at Duncan's."

"It was in their honor. But we turned it into a whole floor event. Dick and I each got a room too. But you know what, I couldn't have made the call because I was probably on your couch… remember that? You had your way with me only to drop me off in the morning without so much as a goodbye make out session. Plus, apparently after I left someone let your little friends like Weevil and his lackies in, before the police took the kegs for themselves that is. Then again, that doesn't really matter to you, does it? You just accuse me of anything you want." He said starting to turn away. "And to think I actually was worried about you the last two weeks." He finished, walking away, leaving her to watch his retreating form.


	5. Trainwreck

**Well, again all the reviews totally floored me. Please keep them coming, they really do make my day. And also, I'm extremely sorry that last chapter was kind of just regurgitating the episodes with very few twists… but it just didn't have much for me to work with. So hopefully this chapter is much more up to par.**

**Ok. And to clear something up. I figured that since in the first episode, Meg wasn't showing at all she must have been only like a month pregnant. I'm also figuring that each episode is covering about 2-3 weeks. Therefore she isn't that far along but is starting to show? However, that means in my version, she probably won't have the baby as soon as she did in the series…**

**Also, I know I said no more really really really really long chapter. But I just had so much to say in this one. Especially cuz of everything that I have happen between Veronica and Meg, Meg and Duncan, Jackie and Veronica and Veronica and Logan. It just needed the extra zillion pages! So hopefully it's good and not torturous. Let me know.**

**Disclaimer: Again, Rob Thomas owns it, I do not. **

**_Chapter 5: Trainwreck._**

"Wallace, my man, why so pensive?" Veronica said as she slid into the empty seat next to her best friend.

"Nothing." He said, shrugging her off, still not smiling.

"That face definitely means something…"

"I asked you the same thing last week, and you said nothing." She frowned. Last week had been her week of actually feeling bad about what she had said to Logan, turned into trying to avoid him like the plague, which suddenly wasn't difficult considering he was just as willing to ignore her completely. Not that she blamed him, life wasn't particularly easy for Logan, and she guessed she hadn't made it any better by accusing him again, but really what did he expect her to do? Not that that mattered at the moment considering she was deciding that Wallace deserved to be happy.

"That was me, not you. Big difference." She said as the announcements started to ring through the room. Considering they were all seniors, announcements got little to no attention from anyone. They were always the same, always boring, and always completely pointless, so the chatter remained at a dull roar until suddenly the usual lunch announcements and sports updates was interrupted by the mention of Homecoming.

That Friday night, much like all despised high school gatherings, the dance was bound to take over the lives of most Neptune students who would then proceed to get wasted and wake up the next morning wondering what had happened, and Veronica just couldn't wait. She wanted to go about as much as she wanted a whole in the head.

As the intercom went quiet, Mr. Wu settled himself on the edge of his desk and proceeded to jabber about Homecoming, she wasn't really listening until he mentioned that each homeroom could nominate one guy and one girl for homecoming king and queen, and she got an idea.

As Mr. Wu opened the floor for nominations a smirk started to spread across Veronica's face. Slowly she raised her hand, getting a look of dismay from Wallace. "Yes Veronica?" Mr. Wu asked.

"I would like to nominate Wallace Fennel." She wiggled her eyebrow at him, but still didn't get a response. Just then however, class began and she realized any interrogation she would lead would have to wait until lunch.

She was almost antsy waiting the three periods to lunch. Veronica Mars was not one to wait for information. The blonde nearly jumped out of her chair when she heard the bell ring for her lunch period and then tripped over a bag on her way out the door, yeah, one could say she was in a hurry.

However, when she made it outside, she saw Jackie was sitting with Wallace, and she figured she'd leave the two be, not wanting to hear another couple making plans for the big dance, as she was sure Jackie was trying to do. Instead, she settled herself at a free table across the quad and took out some homework to get a head start on.

She was halfway through her Calculus, when a shadow cast itself over her paper, upon looking up, she noticed Wallace. He was still frowning, but this time he looked like he needed to talk. "What's up Superstar? Prom king nod not making your day?"

"Look, I haven't exactly told you everything that's been going on with me lately." Wallace said as he sat down.

"Understatement of the century." Wallace glared. "Continue."

"Well, this morning, before I came to school, this guy came up to me. He was some cop from Chicago, apparently into some dirty policing. Anyway, he walked up and just claimed to be my dad."

"Wait, what? So your biological dad is like some sort of renegade cop? What did your mom say about it?"

"She said he didn't want to be around, and the basically told me what I just told you."

"Well, then what is the bio-dad like?"

"I don't know. Just keep this to yourself for awhile alright motor mouth? I really need to just figure this all out for myself." Wallace said, the first sign of a smile coming across his face. Veronica was about to promise when Jackie came stomping up behind them.

"What, don't tell me you guys are throwing me a surprise party?" Jackie exclaimed sarcastically, shooting what Veronica guessed was her death glare.

"Hi Jackie." Veronica smiled.

"Goodbye Veronica." Jackie said walking away, quickly giving Wallace a look.

"I better go fix that." Wallace said with a sigh before giving her another weak smile and walking away. Veronica still didn't know why her best friend put up with that girl. She was constantly making him jump through hoops and Veronica couldn't stand it. She knew her best friend deserved someone as awesome as he was, and she just didn't see Jackie filling that criteria. Jackie just used people, and Veronica wasn't sure she could put up with that.

Her idea was tested later that day in the girl's bathroom, when the devil herself walked up behind her. "Look, I don't know…" Veronica said as she turned away from the mirror.

"You look. I'm in some trouble. Wallace thought you might be able to help me. Someone stole my credit card and maxed it out."

"So, call the credit card company."

"I did, but that's not the problem. My friend, Cora, she seems to borrow everything from me, and I noticed that it was missing after I went shopping with her this one time. It showed up later in my car."

"And you want me to…?"

"Prove she didn't do it. She's the only friend I have here. Well, um, here's a list of the charges made to the card. So… If you were going to help me, where would you start?"

"Well, if I _were_ to help you, I would find out if Cora had any of the things on the list." She said storming out of the bathroom only to run into the one and only Logan Echolls. "What the hell?" She jumped as the contents of her bag scattered across the floor. She ducked down to pick up, half expecting a sarcastic comment, but instead Logan held open the door and smiled at Jackie as she made her way out of the restroom.

He stayed there as Jackie made it down the hallway, but then his view was obstructed by a blonde head popping up from the ground. "Ok, what was that? Since when are you friends with Jackie?" She demanded, swinging her bag up on her shoulder.

"Well, I don't see why you care, but it seems that we have a similar hatred for a certain tiny annoying girl that goes here. Maybe you know her? She accuses people of murder and then dumps them? Well anyway, it made a great foundation for a friendship." He said, giving her a look that almost broke her heart. She could tell that his main point wasn't Jackie in the little speech because the look in his eye was the same look the old Logan used to get whenever Lily did something to hurt him. She hadn't seen that look in a long time.

"Look, Logan. I didn't mean to accuse you. I just wanted to…"

"You didn't, but you did. It's funny that way." He said before stalking down the hallway, leaving her more determined than ever to avoid him.

When she got home from school, she took a better look at the list of charges. Nothing really popped out at her. An expensive leather jacket, five hundred dollars in candles, but nothing too bizarre. She went to bed early, trying not to think of the bitterness in Logan's voice when she had talked to him earlier in the day.

When she arrived the next day at school, she was sure that she had felt him staring at her when she passed his locker, but when she looked back, he was turned away, talking to Dick Casablancas. _ Ok, _she thought,_ I really need to stop drinking coffee before I go to bed, because obviously I'm becoming delusional. Since when would Logan be looking at me anyway? More importantly, since when do I care?_

She debated running to the bathroom quickly but then the first bell rang and she thought better of it, arriving three minutes early to her first period class. Wallace came in just as the bell rang and the announcements began, looking much less sullen than two days before. Suddenly, a familiar hush came over the room as the announcement of Homecoming King and Queen Nominees were announced, sure enough Wallace Fennel was one of the five male nominees.

He looked over at his best friend with a smirk. "How many knee caps did you have to break to pull this one off?" He said with a laugh.

"Only like… two!" Veronica smiled, "The people have spoken Fennel!" She beamed the rest of the period, then went into stealth mode as she tried to find Cora in the hallway. She had thought about it the night before and realized that Jackie made Wallace happy. She liked Happy Wallace, and she would like it a whole lot better if Jackie would be willing to be around her, so she could see Happy Wallace. So, if helping her figure out who stole her credit card could possibly melt the ice queen, she would see what she could do.

Cora, right on schedule came down the hallway, wearing a leather jacket. Veronica "accidentally" bumped into her. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry. Ooh, I really like your jacket!"

"Hey, thanks." Cora said giving Veronica a puzzled look. The two girls had known each other since the sixth grade, yet they hadn't talked, so Veronica could understand the confusion.

"Where did you get it?"

"Well, it's a secret. There's this outlet mall outside of town. I'm going there later to get a Homecoming dress."

"Seriously? Could I come with you know, save some gas money for us both?" Veronica said hopefully. Cora nodded her head and headed into her classroom. _ Alright_ Veronica smiled, _Mission one is accomplished. Now to find out about Meg._

Meg hadn't been in class for a little more than a week and it had slipped Veronica's mind until that morning to call her and find out what was going on. She made her way to the girl's bathroom and pulled out her cell phone.

"Meg?" She said as a quiet voice answered the phone. "What's up?"

"Hey Veronica. Nothing really. Except I'm fat."

"You are definitely not fat."

"I really started to show, like last week."

"Is that why you have been sick?"

"What will people say?"

"You are pregnant, people will move on."

"I don't have that tough skin of yours."

"It doesn't matter. I know for a fact that you got asked to Homecoming, so you are going to have to show up eventually."

"I'm not going."

"Does Duncan know that?"

"He said so."

"What?"

"We got into a fight. Friday I think it was, we were talking and I just mentioned that I was considering maybe going and staying with my aunt until I have the baby. He absolutely freaked out on me. He hasn't talked to me since."

"That is by far the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Ok, I'm busy tonight, and tomorrow I have a ton of work to do, but Thursday night, I'm picking you up and we are doing a few things. Alright?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"No. See ya later!" Veronica said as the bell rang.

By the end of the day, Veronica really wasn't in the mood to go retail shopping with Cora, but the almost friendly look on Jackie's face as she came up to her after school almost made her want to go. She promised Jackie that she would get to the bottom of it; then made her way around the parking lot of to find Cora waiting by her car.

They decided to take Veronica's car to the mall, so she tailed Cora to her house to drop of Cora's car and then they were off for an afternoon of shopping. Cora was right; there were some awesome bargains at the mall. The one problem that Veronica saw in her entire plan was the fact that somehow she had gotten herself into buying a dress. A dress for the homecoming she didn't want to go to, however, she knew that if she wanted Cora to believe her, she would have to go along with it.

In the end, she did find a pretty awesome dress. She modeled it again when she went back to Cora's afterward to hang out. Being the "clumsy" one that she was, accidentally spilled her pop all over her cream colored shirt after she changed, and Cora being the nice person that she was, let her into her closet.

"Thank you so much for letting me borrow something!" Veronica said as she walked into the large closet.

"No problem." Cora smiled, and Veronica almost felt bad for snooping. Right away she didn't notice anything like what was on the purchase list, but she did notice a large white bag. She reached for it, but Cora stopped her. "That's nothing."

"Please. I love going through you're closet, its like…the fashion version of a skin mag." Veronica reached up and unzipped it, unleashing a brightly feathered yellow costume.

"I so did not want you to see that. Yep, that is what you're thinking… the Oh Boy-o Pollo chicken outfit. If anyone finds out about this, I may have to kill you."

"If I tell anyone, I'll personally hand you the gun." Veronica said with a smile, zipping the bag back up. Veronica left an hour later, completely sure that Cora did not steal her friends credit card. On her way home, she made sure to call Jackie and inform her of that fact.

She went home and did her homework, the large dress bag in the corner of her room haunting her. She had no clue why she hadn't just said she didn't like the way it looked on her and let it be. Maybe the truth was that she loved the way the dress fit, the way it made her feel. The only problem with that was now she had a dress for a dance that she had no date to, nor a desire to attend. _Oh well_ she thought as she changed into her pajamas and climbed into bed, _I'll figure that out tomorrow._

When Veronica arrived at school the next morning, the dance was the furthest thing from her mind. She had gotten an SOS message from Wallace first thing, and she rushed to school early to hear about how his mother had lied about his biological father, and how he hadn't even known she was pregnant, so he couldn't be around.

She felt bad for her best friend. It seemed like no matter what happened he couldn't catch a break. So she started out just listening, and being there but then realized what he was saying and cut him off. "Maybe your mother was right; you don't know everything that happened. And take it from someone who knows. The one who really loves you is the one that sticks around."

With that she closed her locker and stomped off. That put her in an extremely bad mood all day. So did Logan mocking her from across the quad. She devoted herself to figuring out who took Jackie's credit card. She took to looking for the only thing that had stood out when she looked at the list of purchases, a purchase at Elemental Industries. When she looked it up however, it was a Palm Reader, Madame Sophie. The minute she walked into the store, veronica was overwhelmed by the smell of vanilla. She looked to her left but she noticed that it was coming from a large quantity of vanilla candles, possibly 500 dollars worth. That was all she needed.

She stopped quickly by Jackie's house at around 4, to tell her about Madame Sophie. "Ok, that that's what I found. But it doesn't make much sense. I mean, I can't think of how she would have gotten your card."

"She got it from me. I got to see her sometimes. You see, my grandma died two years ago and even someone pretending to be her, telling me everything would be alright gave me comfort. Shh, its my secret shame, I'm sure you've got one."

"Well… remember Mamma-Max?" Veronica said with a small, tight smile.

"That cream you rubbed on your boobs? That infomercial?"

"Yep. In my defense, I was a stupid freshman who didn't know better. Anyway, what do you want to do about the whole physic thing?"

"I want to go on her show."

"She has a show?"

"Yeah, public access, live feed every Wednesday night at 7. Anyone can be on it. I want to prove she's a fake."

"She knows you. That won't work. And that's tonight. Can you be on it that late notice?"

"Well you can be on it tonight then. Hey, I'll even give you a list of people who have been on it lately, you can do your little spy thing and get all the info you want." Jackie smiled, as she started to make out a list. Veronica took it and left ten minutes late, actually thinking for the first time since Jackie came to the school that she just might be able to be friends with her after all.

The last person on Jackie's list was a girl named Michele. Veronica had seen her around a few times, especially after the bus crash. Her best friend, Rhonda, had gone over the cliff, and according to Jackie, Rhonda was the one who happened to contact Madame Sophie on the show last week. Veronica made a quick phone call to Michele, saying that she was really wanting to get in touch with her favorite uncle and really wanted to hear all about her experience on the show. Ten minutes later she was meeting the slightly timid girl at a coffee shop.

"Hey Michelle."

"Hi Veronica. So what did you want to know?"

"Well, I was wondering when you were backstage, did a bunch of people from the show talk to you? You know, try to get info on who you wanted to talk to?"

"Oh no. Not at all. The only person I talked to backstage was another audience member, kinda weird lady, big hair and rhinestone glasses type, and I got to talking with her. Why?"

"I was just wondering what it was like

"Well, before Madame Sophie told me that Rhonda wasn't mad at me for picking up, I could sleep. It was such a relief."

"Picking up?"

"You can't tell anyone, but Rhonda called me right before the bus crashed, and it went to voicemail because I was too busy painting my nails."

"You have a voicemail, from when the bus went over. Can I hear it, please?" The girl timidly handed over her phone, and Veronica listened to the peppy voice on the other end making fun of her friend missing the trip until suddenly a sickening boom sounded and then screams, lots and lots of screams. Veronica's stomach sank as she quickly pressed the buttons to forward the message to herself under the table then handed the phone back. "Wow. Well thank you for the insight. I think I might just go on the show." She said before walking to her car, feeling as if she was going to throw up.

Just two hours later, Veronica sat in the audience of Madame Sophie's public access show, waiting to be called onto the stage. She had sat backstage gushing information about her Uncle Roger to the woman in rhinestone covered glasses, and now she hoped that that would do the trick.

She waited patiently as Madame Sophie greeted her audience and then suddenly the physic went off looking for someone in search of an "r." Veronica raised her hand and made her way up onto the stage, trying her best to keep a look of concern on her face, when all she really wanted to do was laugh.

"He was special to you, wasn't he? He took you places, made you things?" Madame Sophie said, staring intently into her eyes.

"That's my Uncle Roger." Veronica said melodramatically, glad that the woman was already digging her own grave, when suddenly the look on the psychics face changed.

"Wait, I'm receiving another voice. A young woman, holding out a flower. A… A… lily. She says you should have stayed away from her boyfriend. And… and… you should be happy with yourself, you don't need the Mamma-Max?" Veronica's face fell at that information. She suddenly had a new mission of revenge. She thanked Madame Sophie and didn't wait for the show to finish its taping before slipping gout the door and making her way home.

She had been listening in on Lamb since the middle of the summer, when the investigation on Logan had started actually, and she seemed to remember a conversation he had at with Terrence Cooke, Jackie's father, about a certain gambling problem. Now that wasn't something that should get leaked out really, but Jackie had definitely chosen to mess with the wrong girl.

She sped home to start working on her revenge but before she even got into her house she was stopped head in her tracks by Wallace, who was standing right outside her front door. "You ok, Veronica?" He asked as she made her way around him to unlock her door.

"In comparison to how your girlfriend will be feeling when I'm through with her. Fan-freakin-tastic. I hope she really enjoyed the show."

"What are you talking about? She was worried too. What makes you think she had anything to do with that?"

"The boob cream thing, Wallace! She was only person ALIVE who knew about that until about a half an hour ago. Wallace, its time to pick a side."

"No. It's not. It's time for you to do a favor for me, this once. I'm sure she didn't do it. But if she did, I'm asking you to let it go."

"You know I can't do that."

"Why does it have to be about you?" Wallace screamed at her, scaring her. "Jackie's right, it's your world, I just live in it. I'm asking you for a favor, just like you do all the time. Let it go. Have you not been paying any attention? My whole life has turned out to be a lie. My dad isn't my dad. I've always been someone for you to count on. But you, you haven't given me anything, no time, no sympathy. Nothing." At that he stormed out, as she called after him. Before he even got into his car, he called Jackie. "Ok, let me clarify something. Did you set up Veronica?"

"It was supposed to be funny, a simple punking."

"You humiliated my BEST FRIEND on television."

"I just wanted to pull her down a peg."

"You don't know what she's been through."

"I just told the psychic about the Mamma-Max. Nothing about Lily, Sophie came up with that on her own. I swear. Let me make it up to you. At the dance."

"I'm only going to that dance because of the nomination. I'm most certainly not going with you." He hung up and drove home obviously upset. The next morning, he avoided her, but also Veronica. She tried to talk to him, to apologize, but he couldn't bring himself to face her. She had been right as always, and he had completely gone off at her. She wasn't as strong as she always seemed and he didn't want to add to it.

Veronica felt horrible, barely getting through her classes. Not only did she need to talk to Wallace, but also all she could hear were Mamma-Max jokes. She wanted to rush out to her car the minute the final bell rang at 3:30, but instead she walked deliberately to Wallace's locker and waited there for him so they could talk. She would have called him, but suddenly it hit her that he just needed some space, so she walked out to her car and tried to give him just that.

That left Veronica to devote the rest of her night to Meg. She had two missions. Get her a dress and get her to make up with Duncan. Neither of which she thought would be remotely as easy as taking a quick trip to a palm reader.

She drove over to Meg's house to be greeted hostily by Mrs. Manning. The woman had never particularly liked Veronica and made no attempt to hide it. "Hi Mrs. Manning. I'm here to help Meg pick out a Homecoming dress." Suddenly Meg's mother smiled. It was as if the mention of a normal school event and her daughter made everything alright. Veronica was pretty sure that Mrs. Manning was the type that would be thrilled if her daughter was prom Queen, because that was "normal and perfect." No wonder Meg was a bit of a perfectionist.

With that Mrs. Manning let Veronica up to Meg's room. Veronica didn't bother to knock, and opened the door to find Meg, still in pajama's sitting on her bed reading a book. "Oh my god, Meg. Please tell me this is just an act, because you really don't strike me as a reading in bed kind of gal."

"Hey Veronica." Meg said barely glancing up from her book.

"Did you forget that I was kidnapping you this evening?"

"No. I was just hoping that if I ignored it, it wouldn't happen."

"Look who you are talking to. Soooo not that easy to dissuade." Veronica said, walking purposefully to the side of Meg's bed, and slamming the book shut. "Now, up and at 'em! We are going shopping now whether you like it or not, so throw on some jeans and let's get a move on."

Meg laughed at Veronica, something she used to do all the time, before the whole pregnancy thing got her down in the dumps. It wasn't that she didn't want a baby, that she didn't mind. It was just the drama that came with it that scared her, so she fought all the time with Duncan, covering up her fear that he would leave her. And she played sick, to avoid the rumors that could come out of it.

She wasn't like Veronica, and she knew it. She knew she wouldn't be able to walk around looking like the most confident person in the world while inside she was crumbling. And the thing was, she knew Veronica understood. Which was why she laughed. She laughed at being pushed past her limits. So she decided she would make the best of whatever Veronica was going to throw her way.

Five minutes later, the two blondes made their way downstairs to the Le Baron. Veronica was determined to first get the dress part of the evening done. That was bound to be the least problematic, at least she hoped. Halfway to the mall, Meg spoke up. "I can't go."

"Go where?" Veronica said, briefly taking her eyes off the road, making Meg wince.

"To the dance. I mean, what if people figure out, you know…"

"You are going to the dance Meg. I don't care what you think, you will go with Duncan and you will have a good time, and enjoy a moment of utter teenage normalcy before you have to go into maternity mode."

"Well, I don't see you getting ready to 'enjoy a moment of teenage normalcy. And if you don't have to go then I don't."

"That is definitely not fair!" Veronica said, again glaring at her friend instead of the road.

"Veronica!" Meg snapped, so that she would look back at the road. "I'm just saying, I don't want to go, but you are making me go. You don't want to go either, but you get to stay at home watching movies. That's what's not fair!"

"But…"

"No buts, Mars. That's not fair. If you don't have to go, I'm not going." Meg stated, crossing her arms for emphasis.

"Well, you are going."

"That means you are too. Come on Veronica, it will be fun. And I could use a crutch, please? Just come along so that I have a little bit of a support system in case anything goes wrong." Veronica took a deep breath, thinking. She wanted Meg to go. It was probably going to be the last thing her friend could do while still pretending everything was normal. She hated herself for being such a marshmallow.

"Fine. I'll go, but the minute everything seems fine, I'm leaving." Veronica said after a moment of silence.

"Alright, then I'm not the only one who needs a dress!"

"Well… about that…"

"Wait. You had a dress and you weren't going to go?"

"Yeah yeah yeah. Well, here we are. Let's get shopping." Veronica said, pulling into a parking space and marching towards the first department store she could find. An hour and a half and approximately 24 dresses later, Veronica wanted to shoot herself as Meg tried on yet another pink girly dress that she claimed made her show. Finally Veronica stomped off, looking on her own for something that Meg might deem worthy when she spotted the dress.

The dress that was perfect for Meg. It was all a deep midnight blue with silver woven it to the fabric. It had a high umpire waist that fell right under a chest, if you weren't flat as she was, and floated away from the body all the way down just above the knee. It was perfect, a little sexy with a low neckline but not tight around the waist, so any possibility of someone figuring out that Meg was pregnant was completely lost.

Veronica practically ran back to the dressing room where Meg sat, completely exhausted and disheartened with the dress, promising it would solve all problems. Meg looked at her, bewildered, but tried the dress on anyway. She stepped out of the dressing room a smile on her face. "Veronica, did I ever tell you that you seem to know everything."

"Seem to? I do. Give me some credit." Veronica smiled at the sight of Meg beaming at the dress. It really did look stunning on her. So the two girls bought it, and stopped for food before heading away from the mall.

"Veronica?" Meg asked after ten minutes of driving, "We aren't heading to one of our houses, so where exactly are we going?"

"You'll have to wait and see." Veronica said with a smirk, as she turned and started to head towards the Neptune Grand. She knew that Meg would hate her for taking her to talk to Duncan, but she also knew that the big dance was the next day, and if she didn't get them to talk, Meg would end up missing the dance, despite having the perfect dress.

Meg's smile faded as she realized where they were going. "No Veronica, I'm not going in there," she said, gripping the sides of her seat as if that would stop her friend from getting her upstairs. "Plus, it's only like, eight, I'm sure he isn't home yet."

"Well, it never hurts to check. Oh, and by the way have I told you how creepy it is that the two of you refer to the Grand as his home?"

"Noted. But really Veronica." She said as they pulled up to the Neptune Grand and parked. Veronica got out, walking quickly around to the other side and pulling the passenger door open.

"No buts. If you are making me go to that dance tomorrow, you are going to have a good time. And you won't if you are still fighting with Duncan so you are going to go march that cute little butt of yours to the Presidential Suite and you are going to talk to that boyfriend of yours whether you like it or not. You got me?" She then started to walk to the front door, leaving Meg little choice but to follow her. Meg knew how stubborn Veronica Mars could be, and she knew that no matter what she did, Veronica would make her talk to Duncan anyway.

Veronica held the elevator, looking that the time on her cell phone, waiting. It only took two and a half minutes for Meg to get out of the car and follow her. The elevator ride was completely quiet. It reminded Veronica of the first time that she had brought Meg to see Duncan, less than two months before when Meg found out she was pregnant. She hoped that this would have a much better result than last time.

Meg refused to knock on the door, so Veronica did for her. She got herself ready for the look on Duncan's face when he saw them at his door, but was shocked when instead she was greeted with "Why if it isn't Chesty LaRue."

"What are you doing here Logan?"

"Why, my good friend Duncan invited me. Why are you here?"

"Meg needed to talk to Duncan. Are you going to let us in or not?" Veronica didn't even wait for his response, instead she pushed her way past him, pulling Meg with her.

"Meg?" Duncan said softly as he saw the future mother of his child walk through the door.

"Hi." Meg replied quietly. Veronica gave her a look that screamed 'get the hell on with it' and she continued. "I really think we need to talk."

"And that is the cue that I need to go with Chesty here to the other room." Logan said roughly grabbing Veronica's arm. She tried to send one more supportive smile Meg's way as she was dragged to Duncan's bedroom.

"You really had to pick this room of all places?" Veronica asked as he closed the door. "And why did you have to bring me with you. I'm sure you would have more fun by yourself."

"Because, Duncan is my friend and…"

"Since when?"

"What?"

"Since when are you two like BFF again, last I heard you guys had had a bit of a falling out. Or was the fight in the middle of FBLA just a clever rouse?"

"We decided to work things out. So sue us alright. Anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, it was obvious that the two of them needed some alone time, and I being the awesome person that I am decided to make that happen." Veronica sat on the bed. The two sat in an awkward silence for about 5 minutes until she finally spoke up.

"You know I would have left too. Actually I would have waited in the hall. Wait, was this all a little plan to spend time with me? Logan, I'm honored…"

"Look, I know I haven't been nice exactly, alright? Snapping at you and everything, and being less than friendly. You have to understand that I just couldn't be around you without wanting to…"

"Logan..."

"I just mean, I think we could be friends. Call a truce. You know do a secret handshake or something."

"Just like that?"

"I'm willing if you are."

"Fine. Well then, what shall we talk about?" The two rambled for awhile; talking about anything from her latest case, to his sister's next made for TV movie, when she realized something. She realized that she had missed this. The talking to Logan. He always seemed to know just what she was talking about without having to ask too many questions, and he always had interesting things to say. She was thinking about that when he suddenly asked her. "Well, are you going to the big dance tomorrow?" with a bit of sarcasm on big.

"Meg made me promise to go for moral support. How about you? Did you find someone desperate enough to accept you invitation?"

"As it just so happens yes. This girl from my English class, she's hot, so I asked her. She has no sort of brain whatsoever, but she should be fun to look at." With that Veronica smacked him with a pillow. He was about to retaliate when the door to the bedroom swung open, Meg and Duncan standing there laughing as the two on the bed glared at each other.

"Well Veronica, I'm glad you two haven't killed each other and all but, its almost 9:30 and I need to be getting home so…" Meg said, making a motion to the door. Veronica stared at the clock on the wall for a second. Had it really been over an hour? Time really did fly when you were trying to be civil. She slowly got up off the bed, making sure to "accidentally" knock Logan out of balance as she did, and made her way towards the door. She waved goodbye to the two men in the room without another word and the two blondes silently went down to her car.

"So, how was your talk with Duncan?" Veronica said finally after about two minutes of total silence.

"It went well. I explained to him that it wasn't that I didn't want to stay with him, I just wasn't sure if I could deal with our school and my parents with the whole baby thing. He understands now. Hopefully it just gets better between us. How about you and Logan?"

"We decided to call a truce."

"A truce? Seriously?"

"Yeah. We decided it would be better off for everyone if we just, made nice for a little while."

"You ok with that?"

"I'm trying to be." With that Veronica pulled up at Meg's house. "Hey, I'll see you tomorrow after school. I'll come over and help you get ready." Meg smiled and nodded at this and Veronica was off to think about what had just happened.

She stayed up most of the night trying to make sense of why Logan had wanted to bring an end to their feud. The best thing she could think of was that he was hoping to get her to help him with his case faster. She couldn't help but think about it all day at school as well. She hadn't really seen him much but when she did, there were no horrible comments and nothing was damaged of hers by the time she got to the parking lot at the end of the day, so she took that as a good sign.

Veronica ran home quickly to get her dress and some make up and left a special package for her dad to find when he got home containing a copy of the voice mail that she had forwarded from Michele's cell phone before running out the door at 4:15.

She made it to Megs fifteen minutes later, but Meg still freaked out about not having enough time when Veronica walked upstairs to her room. According to Meg they needed an hour and a half to do hair, a half hour to do makeup, a half an hour to do their nails, and then the dance was at 7:30, so they had to meet Duncan at 7:10 to get pictures outside and then make it to the dance at 7:45.

Veronica thought that was ridiculous, but she indulged her pregnant friend and followed her schedule exactly until it was 7:05 and the two girls were perfectly dolled up. Meg had her hair curled and pulled back in an up do, her dress and heels making her look like she would be the belle of the ball. Veronica had gone simpler, pulling her hair back into a low elegant pony tail. Her dress, a v-neck turquoise velvet number with a black shrug fit her amazingly and with a pair of Meg's black heels, she felt like she was a worthy sidekick.

She took a back seat for pictures and as they made their way to the dance slightly behind schedule Veronica insisted that they go in ahead of her and she would follow them 5 minutes later. She waited outside for about three when she saw Wallace pull up, without a date. She looked at him for a second, but then he walked right up to her and without a word picked up her hand, and rested in the crook of his arm, before walking into the gym.

She couldn't help but smile at her best friend. She was so glad that she had found him the year before, and wondered if she would ever be able to explain to him how much his friendship meant, but at the moment she was just glad that he was there and not mad at her. Heck, she was almost glad she had come to the dance as Wallace spun her around to the fast song.

She was about to tell him to go find Jackie and ask her to dance when a slow song came on and a firm tap came to her shoulder. There stood Logan looking slightly worse for wear but still dressed to the nines. "May I cut in?" He said to Wallace to gave him a look but still backed off. Veronica almost wished he hadn't.

"What are you doing?" She asked as he slid his arms around her waist. She didn't feel comfortable with the closeness. It felt dangerous, it felt good.

"I'm dancing with my friend."

"So we went from calling a truce to being friends now? What if Dick sees you? What about your date?"

"My date is probably off making out with Dick for all I know."

"Wait what?"

"I ditched her five minutes in."

"You ditched your date?" Veronica almost screamed over the music. She knew what it was like to feel ditched, and she hated that she was dancing with someone who really should be with someone else. "That is definitely not cool Logan."

"Why do you care?" He said pulling away from her, the look on his face almost was like he had been smacked.

"It's wrong ok. This whole thing is wrong."

"Somehow I don't think you are just talking about my date anymore."

"Maybe I'm not. You should probably go figure that out." With that she walked away. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Meg. She was beaming as she danced with her boyfriend, her head on his shoulder. They were happy, and it nearly broke Veronica. She went to go look for Wallace after she stopped in the bathroom and another slow song was playing, but when she found him she didn't like what she saw.

Wallace was staring across the room, at a couple dancing, slowly she realized that it wasn't just a couple, it was Logan and Jackie. When Logan saw her staring he smirked at her, and so did Jackie. She stormed across the gym, sidestepping as couples swayed towards her until she made it across the room. "Jackie, what the hell. If you want to mess with me fine! I don't care, but don't even think about breaking Wallace's heart just for sport. Logan, same to you. I don't know what you have against me right now. I don't care why you want to see me hurt so badly, but whatever it is, you knew that Jackie was dating Wallace, you knew that would hurt him and I can't believe that you would go so far as to mess with my best friend. He doesn't deserve that. You don't see me purposely hurting your friends when they haven't done anything to me do you?" She paused. "Yeah. I didn't think so."

With that she turned around and looked back at where Wallace had been standing but he was gone. She ran out of the room upset, but determined to find him and she made it outside before realizing that he was long gone. She stopped, pausing underneath a tree that stood near the main entrance and fought the urge to cry that was welling up inside.

She had tried her best to protect her best friend and then he ended up hurt anyway. The bus crash was definitely murder after hearing the voice mail and it was all her fault. Meg and Duncan were in for hell and she couldn't do a thing. Her dad was probably going to lose the election because of Lamb. And she was alone at freaking Homecoming missing Lily and wishing that she could somehow rewind time. She felt like the weight of the world was tumbling down on her and all she could do was go with the avalanche and hope come out of it alive.

She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath when a hand rested itself on her shoulder. Veronica turned, half wishing that it was Wallace, saying he was ok with it all, but instead it was one of the people she wanted to see least.

"Veronica…" Logan said quietly as she tried to turn away. "Look. I didn't mean to mess with Wallace or anything. I just… I'm so sick of this ok? You hating me. If anything I should hate you! You dumped me, Veronica. Ok? Jackie was just something that I thought would get to you a little bit. Get to you for making me feel like an idiot all the time."

"You have no clue what you did. Wallace has enough to deal with right now. You had no right to mess with me by doing something that could hurt him too! And yes I broke up with you! What did you want me to do? You were so busy playing Sharks versus Jets with all the PCHer's that you couldn't see what you were doing to yourself… and to me. Logan, I cared about you so much but you had to keep doing things to the PCHer's and getting me in the middle of it. I couldn't anymore, alright."

"I know…"

"You know? Really now. Then why was that sudden display with Jackie necessary? What else do you want to throw at me?" Veronica said, almost screaming as the tears started to come.

"Ronnie."

"Don't you dare Ronnie me!" She said turning to run, but again he pulled her back.

"Ronnie I'm sorry." She opened her mouth to respond but instead he leaned down and kissed her. A simple kiss, not a long, hot drawn out affair. Just a kiss, but it was enough to make her catch her breath when he pulled away. She looked at him for a second, but felt the tears coming closer and closer, so she did the only thing she could do to keep him from seeing her cry again. She ran.


	6. Playing With Fire

**Again thanks for the reviews. I was a little sad that the response wasn't as good as a few of the other chapters cuz I was kinda proud of the events I came up with, but still the reviews did make me happy. **

**I really wanted to get this out sooner, but the time I thought I would have to write it Friday, was taken over by being locked in my school for two hours for a tornado. So needless to say writing didn't happen. Then yesterday I had play practice and life was taken over by theater friends and watching Reefer Madness (Kristen Bell is in it... lol) **

**I rearranged a few things in this one, nothing too major really. Hope ya like it.**

**Disclaimer: you know the drill, don't sue me.**

**Anyway, that was rambly so I'll get right to Chapter 6**

**_Chapter 6: Playing with fire_**

Avoiding Logan. Veronica had started to think that it was some kind of new sport, and she was getting good at it. Unlike the first time, there were no phone calls, no voicemails, and no constant reminder that she had shown him some sign of weakness. This time there were only occasional glances across the quad before she quickly looked away. That and that gnawing feeling she had inside her stomach. She couldn't figure out what it meant, but there was definitely something there, and she despised it, it made it harder to hate him, and therefore harder to constantly avoid him.

She also found it harder because of Wallace as well. So she spent all of her spare time, focusing her energy on her dad's campaign. Keith Mars deserved to be Sheriff again, of course Lamb was doing everything to make sure that didn't happen, so Veronica did everything to make sure he still had some sort of a chance, but she needed Wallace, and he wasn't there.

Veronica sat in her living room, surrounded by people, all waiting to hear the results of the vote that could determine her family's future, but all she could think of, was that she was alone. She and Wallace were supposed to wait for her father to ride his lead straight to victory and then sneak champagne before making prank calls to the former sheriff. Instead she was sitting there, waiting anxiously as a very close race took place, while Wallace was off in Chicago with his dad, where she couldn't even get a hold of him.

She had tried calling him, he didn't answer, and she had tried to e-mail him he didn't write back. He needed space, she got that, but it didn't mean she was going to give up that easy. She stared at the TV, hoping to everything good that still remained in the world that her father would still nose ahead as Lamb started to win by a percent, then her heart fell. That one percent held strong, and life was proven unfair again.

All she wanted to do was go and hide under her blankets until the next morning and she found out it was all a dream, but Meg had called her at least sixteen times that day reminding her that win or lose, she was coming to Duncan's party. In Meg's words, "If I have to wear something that doesn't make me show and go to the party. The least you can do is show up for an hour." So Veronica hopped into her car and made it to the Neptune Grand less than a half an hour after finding out that Lamb was still sheriff.

Gia stopped her to talk about the election, and Dick, but Veronica was too preoccupied. She couldn't find Meg anywhere, and also Logan was sitting just three feet away on the couch. She didn't want him to see her, but then Deputy Sachs came in and she quickly realized she wouldn't have to worry about it. Logan was too busy mouthing off at the authority figure to care that Veronica Mars was staring. However, when the deputy brought out the hand cuffs and started reading him his rights, he sent a look her way, breaking the badass façade that he had been emitting. He looked almost scared. He had thought that the Felix thing had been taken care of. But apparently not. Right then and there, Veronica decided that she was going to have to do something to help him. She just wasn't sure what that something was.

A moment later Meg and Duncan came through the door, a puzzled look on their faces. Veronica took a few seconds to explain, but said that she was going straight home, explaining that there had been enough excitement for one night already. However, instead of heading straight home, she turned in the direction of the office. She knew the first step in maybe helping Logan was to look into a few things. She made it there in surprising time and started up the stairs to the office in a hurry but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Abel Koontz sitting against the door.

The man looked as though he was eighty, and homeless. She knew immediately she needed to get him to the hospital, so she opened the door and tried to get him in on the couch. "I need your help." He said between coughs.

"I'm trying it's…"

"No, I need you to find my daughter, Amelia. Before I die." Veronica stared at him for a moment fore he sat down on the couch and she went to go find a phone book. "She signed the settlement with Kane software, and she disappeared. Please Veronica. Help me find my daughter. What are you doing?"

"Broke or not there has to be a hospital that will take you. And fine, but only because you begged." She stopped when the call went through and found out where the emergency room was. The rest of the evening, or what was left of it, was filled with getting a rotten smelling Abel Koontz to the hospital and in a bed.

The next morning, Veronica woke up determined to find Amelia. She figured it couldn't be that hard after all, the paper trail may have dried up but personal ties usually don't disappear as quickly, so she started with the one person she thought Amelia would have kept in touch with, even after disappearing, her boyfriend.

He had said she hadn't seen her since they had gone to Ibiza after finals. They had been at a party where foamed dropped from the ceiling and she had disappeared with out a trace taking all of his phone cards. Veronica got all the numbers for the cards from him, but was still disappointed. Call it wishful thinking, but she was kind of hoping that he would just be able to give her a location, so she went to Amelia's old room mate. The thing was, the room mate knew even less, being surprised that Amelia had even gone to Ibiza, claiming that she had had to drag her to a booze cruise the year before.

When she got home she tried another tactic, posting a bulletin on the Big Ibiza website as a worried friend looking for Amelia DeLongpre. Her hopes weren't really high so she decided to pull in one last favor to see where it would take her before giving up.

She had the calling card numbers, so she called Cliff. The man may not be a brilliant mind or a particularly wonderful attorney, but he sure could weasel his way into getting information like a pro.

"Hey Cliffy!" She said into her cell phone. "I need a favor."

"No can do, I'm in the middle of…"

"Come on, you owe me."

"I owe you? Who unconfiscated your fake college ID's?"

"Who got the Lincoln out of your ex's name?"

"Who helped with Lee's Walk-In Donut?"

"Well, who proved that stripper was color-blind." Veronica smiled as she heard him start to give in on the other end.

"Fine, who do I need to call and what am I finding out?"

"World Telecom. I sent you the number I need checked out. Nothing melts a heart like a distraught father. You're a gem Cliffy." She heard him hang up on the other end. She sat there, waiting for Cliff to get her the info, but realized that she had other things to do. She started to think of everything she could that had to do with Felix's murder. None of it helped Logan in the least. Finally, when she had just about racked her brain as much as she possibly could, an e-mail popped up with the phone card records. She quietly praised Cliff for his amazing-ness as she went through the list, stopping on the last phone call made from the card, made in Neptune, California.

She called Cliff again as she made her way to the location of the payphone from which the phone call had been made. "What Veronica? Did you not get the records?" he said, jokingly.

"As a matter of fact I did get them. I was just calling to thank you again."

"Well then. I have a favor to ask you."

"I guess I could help. What?"

"Is there anyway that I could get your little friend Logan to get a real lawyer? Anything I could say to push him away?"

"Wait, you're Logan's lawyer? Are they holding him? Why did they bring him in again? Who…"

"Whoa girl. Take it easy. I didn't know you cared that much. Anyway, that anonymous witness decided to show up. So he's being held because Lamb sees him as a flight risk. He needs to get a real lawyer."

"But Cliff, you are a real lawyer, and knowing Logan, he isn't going to switch for anything, so I would start pulling some strings."

"I was afraid you would say that."

"Anytime Cliff. Oh, I gotta go. Call me if you need anything with Logan's case, I know a lot about it." She said as she parked next to the payphone, which just happened to be across the street from none other than Kane software.

Veronica couldn't help but connect the dots, a girl doesn't sign a settlement with a company just to reappear to use a payphone outside, and there was one man she knew would know exactly what was going on. Two minutes later she was waiting inside Clarence Weidman's office. He of course was, as he always was, evasive, but she knew she had piqued his interest as she made her way back to her car and back home to finish the homework she hadn't done during her "sick day" and go to bed.

The next morning at school she heard that Logan was still in jail. It killed her a little bit. She became even more determined to try to help him as soon as she found Amelia. It seemed odd, that she cared so much, but the thing was that she believed him. She knew that there was no way that Logan killed Felix. He may be a jackass, and he may have been in fights, but she knew that Logan never would kill anyone, no matter what.

She was trying to figure out what else she could do to find Amelia, when she heard Dick talking about his new fake ID. For once in his life, he was useful. Right after school she called up Amelia's old roommate to find out what fake ID was used when they went on the booze cruise.

Margot Schnell, not a wonderful name, but Amelia's cousin none the less. Amelia had used that ID for over a year when she was under 21, so when Veronica got home, she looked into it, just in case Amelia still used that alias. Sure enough, just a few days before Miss Margot Schnell had rented a car, now the only thing was to find out which car and where it was.

Veronica drove out after dinner Lariat Rental Cars. Her plan was to go in and find out what car it was, and then go to someone else later to find out where it was. It would have been much easier if Wallace was still around and could come with her, and she knew it. She never thought that being away from her best friend like she was would give her such separation anxiety, but sure enough it did. She wanted her best friend back like nothing else, but tried to put that in the back of her mind as she went up to talk to the man, who according to the sign on the wall was the employee of the month.

"Hey! I was wondering if you could help me."

"Well that is my job," the man said with a smile.

"Well, my friend Margot rented this really awesome car from you a little while ago and a bunch of us were going up to see the Stain'd show and I was wondering if you could tell me what it was so we could rent one for us to road trip?"

"The name was?"

"Margot Schnell. Margot with a t."

"Ok, that's a LeSabre."

"And what do they call that awesome color? It was a…"

"White. It was white. And that car is rented out right now, but I could get you something else for your road trip."

"Well, we really wanted that car, so I'll have to talk to my friends first before making that decision. Thanks anyway." Veronica said as she walked away from the counter and out the door. Then came the hard part. She waited outside for the man who helped to yell at one of the other employees then make his way to an ugly black Buick in the parking lot. She had let down her hair and added glasses, so she hoped that that would be enough to not be found out as she made her way into the rental store and up to the counter where the other employee sat, staring at the computer screen.

"You have to help me." She said loudly, dropping her hands to the counter.

"What's the problem." The woman said, uninterested.

"Well, other than my colleague being an unbearable Nazi, kinda like that guy you know." Veronica pointed to the employee of the month plaque on the wall. "Anyway long story short, I have this presentation, I'm about to crush him for the promotion and I realized that I left my laptop in the rental. I'm totally screwed. You have to help me."

The look on the woman's face softened. "Do you know the make of the car?"

"It was a white LeSabre. I turned it in last week."

"Well, it's rented out right now, so it really could be anywhere."

"Don't you have a satellite tracker in the car? Anything?"

"We aren't supposed to use that."

"Well the world isn't supposed to be unfair is it? This guy can't win." The woman paused, looking around before picking up the phone. Five minutes later, she was walking away with a map, a location in Waverly circled.

She figured that it would only take her a little over an hour to get there, and it was only thing she had left to do, so she sped over to what appeared to be a run down motel run by a man who spent his time looking at porn on the internet. Classy with a capital K. She did her best to find out what room Amelia had occupied, and after paying 30 dollars she ended up in a run down, hideously decorated room. There was no sign of Amelia. She finally gave up searching and opened up her laptop to see if anyone on the Ibiza website had responded when her computer detected a Bluetooth signal from Amelia's palm pilot.

Sixty dollars more and a thorough search of two more rooms and Veronica still found nothing, she felt like giving up when she heard the whir of an ice machine. She hoped that she would find the palm pilot buried, forgotten in the ice, but still leaving her with clues as to where the owner was. What she found instead made her want to throw up. The sight of a lifeless hand, and some hair disturbed her, reminded her of when she saw Lilly after she had been murdered. She reached for her cell phone to call for help when none other than Clarence Weidman stopped her.

"I thought I told you to mind your own business." He said, slamming the door to her room shut.

"My father knows I'm…"

"I'm guessing that was Amelia? I wasn't completely upfront with you the other day. She signed the settlement, but then she asked for more money."

"Well, what about her now? I mean…"

"Let me deal with it. I need to get a better handle on everything before everything gets out." Clarence said, grabbing Veronica's belongings and handing them to her as he pushed her out the door. "By the way, the man at the counter said a guy with brown hair, medium sized with a t-shirt. Does that sound familiar?"

"Yeah…."

"I need to tell me who that person is." Veronica told him about Amelia's boyfriend and asked that he tell her what results would follow before taking off in her Le Baron. It was getting on 11:00 when she made it back to Neptune, but she knew that if she went home and tried to sleep, all she would be able to think about would be when they found Lilly. Her dad was out of town on a case and so she decided to follow through on the only thing that she could. She had heard Logan was being released that night from Cliff who had apparently pulled some strings, so she figured she could at least make sure that when ever he got home, there wouldn't be an intruder… other than herself of course.

Fifteen minutes later she was walking down Logan's street and climbing the gate near the backdoor of his house. She had never had to sneak in before, but she never thought it would be as easy as it apparently was. She was just about to find a window she could get through when she saw another person coming out of the backdoor with a very full backpack swung over their shoulder. She was about to stop the person and demand and explanation when she recognized the trespasser as Trina, his sister.

_I guess the case is solved?_ Veronica thought to herself but then realized that there could be something else, so she quickly went to the one window near the kitchen that had been off its track for as long as she could remember and shimmied it up just enough to fit through.

She patrolled the house for a good half an hour, noticing that not a lot had changed since Aaron had been taken into custody. The maids still kept the house clean, Aaron's movie posters still hung on the wall; no wonder Logan was so snide all the time. At around midnight she convinced herself to go check his room, make sure nothing was really missing. As she walked through his room, she noticed that unlike the house things had changed. She couldn't remember if it had been that way when she had been there to yell at him about Kendall, she had been to angry, but there had definitely been some changes either way.

His video games were all put away instead of being stacked in piles on the floor. His once Egyptian cotton sheets had been replaced with sleazy silk ones and everything on all the shelves had been rearranged. The one thing she noticed as the same was the top of his dresser. He had always kept anything he personally valued on top of that dresser to be displayed; his mother's lighter, a picture of the Fab four, a trophy he had won in the fifth grade for soccer, and a hand full of other items of sentimental value that still stood in their appropriate places. It made Veronica smile.

She also checked around, noticing that his shoe box of little kid memorabilia still was stashed under his bed, the ninja turtle blanket, small teddy bear and other such items still gathering dust. She was just about to put it back when she noticed a wisp of smoke outside the window.

Veronica opened his bedroom window and looked out to see a raging fire over by the pool house, and a glint of a motorcycle helmet or two running away from the scene of the crime. She had always warned him that the PCH-er's would retaliate, but she never thought that they would try to burn his house down. She quickly shoved his shoe box and all the valued items from the dresser into her bag for safe keeping and dialed 911 as the fire crept slowly over to the house. Somehow she knew that even though the fire department was on its way, they would never be able to save the house.

She ran quickly out the back door sneaking away as she came but stopped looking one last time at the burning house before climbing over the fence. As she drove by she noticed that the firemen were trying to put out the fire and Lamb belittling Logan as he watched the last bit of his home be engulfed in flame.

The next day at school she didn't expect Logan to be there, but sure enough, there he sat, when she got to lunch, talking to Dick and showing off his new ankle tag, and then being threatened by the PCH-er's. She hated Weevil at that moment. He had just burned down Logan's house and still couldn't give him a break. She really wanted to step in, but she knew that if she did, both sides of the argument would just resent her more. So instead she followed Logan when he went to his car after school.

"Well if it isn't Veronica Mars." He said when he finally noticed her presence. "What, do you want to accuse me of something else? Or maybe you want to go all preacher on me and tell me the error of my ways? You seem to enjoying that."

"Fine, I guess I deserve that, but keep that up and I won't give you what I have for you." She said, plopping her heavy bag down on the front end of his car.

"Hey!" He shouted, rushing to check that his car wasn't scratched. "Don't take your PMS out on my car. What do you have in there rocks?"

"Big Bird is just fine, don't you worry."

"Big Bird? Excuse me, I love my car. And I don't appreciate the verbal abuse you are dealing it."

"If you love it so much then why don't you marry it?"

"Classy Veronica."

"Fine, keep it up. I have something of value for you."

"What is it?"

"Well, I happen to know who has been sneaking into your house and taking things."

"Tell me. Now." Logan demanded, suddenly interested in the conversation.

"Trina."

"Trina?"

"Yes, I saw her myself. And here. I thought you might want these." She said, pulling the shoe box and an additional package from her messenger bag. "No rocks, just memories."

"She tried to take this stuff?"

"Not exactly… I did."

"What?"

"Well, I was at your house, being on the look out for whoever was taking your stuff. When I saw smoke. I figured…"

"You were at my house?"

"Yes…"

"What the hell Veronica?" He yelled, slamming his fist down on the car. She jumped at his sudden display and started to walk away, not wanting to see him angry. To be honest she had expected him to be a little bit grateful, but instead he yelled at her. It made no sense. Logan on the other hand, just stood there, fingering the different items she had left on his car. Honestly, he was grateful. Those were the only things in his home that he really valued, but he was mad that she had been so stupid. She had been in more danger than she probably thought by being in his house. He was even madder that it was because of him that she was in his house when it was on fire.

Veronica went home and did the only thing she could do. Usually she would call Wallace up after a week like she had had; but instead, she did the next best thing. She sat down to write an e-mail. A very one sided way of let Wallace know that she missed him. She was about to sign off and send it when she got a bizarre message from a woman on the Ibiza Forum. She sent Veronica a picture of Amelia, her boyfriend was there, but according to the woman the other man in the picture was Amelia actual boyfriend. And according to an e-mail sent by the owner of the motel where she found the body, that was the man who was with her the night she died.

One phone call to Clarence Weidman later, she knew that man, the son of an Argentinean diplomat, would come to justice. Which was odd, trusting Clarence Weidman, but at the moment, she knew that it was the right thing to do.

She had done exactly what Abel Koontz had asked and more. She found out where she was, and she had even found her murderer, but she still had one thing to do, let him know that the daughter he had sacrificed himself to help had died because of the money he had procured for her. Veronica didn't know how to tell him the truth, but according to his nurse he barely had another day or two, so she made an executive decision. She walked right into Abel's room and lied. She told him that his daughter was trying to make it from the Himalayas, and that she was happy. It was meant to be helpful, but she couldn't help but want to cry when she saw the look on his face when he took her hand and thanked her.

As she made her way out of the hospital she made a call to the only person she knew she could rely on, Meg. "Meg." She said quietly as she got into her car.

"Veronica? What's wrong?"

"I just need to hang out with a bit of normal. What are you doing right now?"

"I'm over at Duncan's studying. You can come join us if you want. We just got Chinese." Veronica said she would be there in fifteen minutes, but when she got upstairs she wished that she had never come at all.

"Meg. I believe you left out one very important part of what was going on." Veronica said as Logan answered the door saying, 'Kane/Echolls lounge, I'm sorry, no ex's allowed.'

"What Ronnie?" Logan said with a smirk as she pushed past him, still staring intently at Meg. "Didn't ya hear? Duncan and I are roomies!"

Veronica glared at him, but instead sat down next to Meg and grabbed an egg roll. It was weird that Logan went from very angry to just a few hours later calling her Ronnie with a smirk. She could just tell that with Meg's pregnancy, Logan moving in with Duncan and Wallace being M.I.A, the next few weeks were definitely going to be interesting.


	7. Chapter 7

Hey everybody. I want to let you know. I know this story kind of died. But if only you knew what my lifehas been like for the last year (plus the third season really discouraged me because I didn't like it as much as I hoped I would especially because I was in love with the first two). I have been writing again now that all my college applications and grandma drama has ended, I want to have at least four more chapters written before I post so keep your eyes out in a month or so.


End file.
